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LEARNING JOURNAL

Learning Style

Learning is a life-long process (Tschang and Senta, 2001) which could either be formal,
informal or incidental (Marsick and Watkins, 1990) i.e. conscious or unconscious. To
improve one’s skills or level of competence, learning must exist beyond the boundaries
of the classroom. One has to embark upon informal learning which for simplicity I will
define as “a personal conscious effort to improve one’s self”.

To understand myself better, I need to consciously reflect upon myself (Cottrell, 2003)
and reflection can only take place when I am consciously aware that I am learning
(Marsick and Watkins, 1990).

In the bid to have a better understanding of myself, I need to know how I perceive,
interpret, and respond to information (Whetten and Cameron, 2002). According to the
Kolb’s learning style model I have a Convergent learning style as my highest scores were
in Abstract Conceptualization (AC) and Active Experimentation (AE) (Appendix 1).
The model suggests that I am very practical, prefer technical tasks and excel in problems
that have one correct answer (Kolb, Boyatzis & Mainemellis, 2000 cited in Whetten and
Cameron, 2002). However, the latter trait for me is a demerit of my learning style
(Convergent). Business decisions don’t have a one-solution-fix-all answer. Business
issues are reliant on other factors like market or economy which can be volatile and
difficult to predict accurately. As such I will have to develop myself to be more flexible
and open to other possible answers other than a single answer to problems.

The Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic (VAK) (Appendix 7) (Cottrell, 2003) and Honey and
Mumford (Appendix 8) learning styles buttressed the results from Kolb’s. Honey and
Mumford learning style showed that I am a pragmatic learner while VAK learning style
showed that I prefer to learn using my eyes or visual imagination and I learn best where
physical sensation (like movement, touch or feeling) is possible (Cottrell, 2003). As a
pragmatist, I like to have a go, to try out to see if what I am learning works (Reece and
Walker, 2007). I like a link between theory and practice but dislike any learning that has
no obvious benefit, no guidelines or apparent purpose (Scales, 2008). This is also
revealed in my personality style test (Jung Typology test) which revealed that I usually
seek meaning and connection in ideas, relationships, and material possessions (INFJ
personality) (Humanmetrics, 2008).

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The tests together truly revealed to a large extent my personality and learning style.
Therefore, I have resolved to work on the areas that the tests show that I am weak since
doing so will make me to be more effective (Pickworth et. al., 2000). I would try and
add an EP (Extraversion and Perceiving) to my personality style so that I could find and
explore new possibilities and new and exciting challenges (Nicolson et. al., 2006). I
would also ensure that I maximize my strengths to be able to effectively cope (especially
in the short-term) with the pace and load of course work that I have.

Criticism

The learning styles used are not exact in themselves, they only try to show ones preferred
learning style. One is advised not to depend solely on one learning style. One will be
more effective by expanding one’s range of learning styles and experience (Scales,
2008). No single theory of learning or learning style “is definitive or provides the exact
answer to how people learn” (Scales, 2008). Honey and Mumford in their learning style
model described four different kinds of learning styles but Swailes and Senior (cited in
Sadler-Smith, 2001) argued that they are only three. They stated that what Honey and
Mumford divided into two learning styles (Reflector and Theorist) were merely only one
learning style (i.e. Reflector/Theorist). In a similar tone, DeCiantis and Kirton ( cited
Sadler-Smith, 2001) were also quoted to have challenged Kolb’s, stating that he tried to
encapsulate into a single measure three unrelated aspects of cognition (style, level and
process). The LSI chart is said to not be free from bias towards one of the four quadrants
(Whetten and Cameron, 2002). It is also critiqued to be more of a process than a learning
style with the argument that they are stages in a learning process and an individual could
excel in all four stages of the process (Sadler-Smith, 2001).

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SKILLS CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT

I have decided to choose one personal skill (Time Management), one interpersonal skill
(Communication skill) and one group skill (Team work). These skills were chosen on
the grounds of their relevance in helping me build a high level of competence in my
future career. I intend to be a Marketing Management consultant. This demands that I
work with people, make presentations, and give consultations to businesses. The
challenge of balancing work and family in the face of limited time and the inevitability of
having to work with various people from diverse cultures and languages has also made
me to really seek to learn more about these skills. The challenges of my course –
working with groups, the assignment deadline pressures, and the amount of workload I
am laboured with has revealed the importance of the chosen skills if I will be both
efficient and effective in my career within the limits of my available time and personal
skills.

TIME MANAGEMENT

Experience & Reflection

My work seemed to be ever increasing. Lectures, seminars, tutorials and assignments


seemed to go on without end. However, as my workload grew, my time remained the
same. I tried not to give thought to how much I needed to accomplish before my
deadline dates. Inevitably, during lectures as our tutors kept chipping in issues related to
the assignments and emphasizing on the consequence of not meeting the deadlines, I was
forced to ponder upon the possibility of meeting the deadlines. I felt pressured because I
had too much to do in too little time (Van Eerde, 2003) and this made me feel stressed
and out of control (Whetton and Cameron, 2002).

The stress made me panic and resulted in migraine which was the evidence that if stress
was not managed it would have a debilitating effect on me (Whetten and Cameron, 2002;
Kearns and Gardiner, 2007).

The major cause of an increasing workload was procrastination. I focused too much on
my group assignment and postponed other individual assignments. By the time I got
through the group assignment, other course work had accumulated and now I had begun
to panic because the time I had left seemed not enough.

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Critical Analysis

My previous experiences with shifts in deadlines made me understand that time can
never be enough as our work seems to spread out over the amount of time available for it
(John Adair, 1987). The challenge I therefore had was not expanding time but rather
managing it.

Brian Tracy’s “Law of Time Pressure” says there is never enough time to do everything,
but there is always enough time to do the most important things (Tracy, 2002). Reflecting
upon how I spent my time using time management matrix (Appendix 2) I found out that I
had no defining line between what was important or urgent and I often allow people to
make this definition for me (Whetten and Cameron, 2002). My cultural background
which tends to place more emphasis on people than time (Caproni, 2005) made it
difficult for me to cut short endless conversations. It was rude to cut short a
conversation. My time orientation also wasn’t helping. I had a monochronic time
orientation as I prefer to focus on one thing at a time (Nonis et. al., 2005). My time-
orientation coupled with a habitual act of procrastination made the load I had to carry
later overburdening.

Planning Ahead

Effective management of time has been said to be a requirement for effective


performance in the work-place (Lashley and Best, 2003) and it is a skill I need to start
developing now while still at school.

In addressing procrastination, I need to have a clear purpose (aim and objective for
things), plan and prioritize according to my defined purpose, avoid interruptions and
distractions (either from objects, events or people around me), and organise myself
(Kearns and Gardiner, 2007). To overcome feeling of guilt, I need to learn how to
employ tactics such as tactics of negative or positive politeness (Morand, 1996) to use to
refuse to give people my time when necessary and to be able to save the face of the
person involved.

Groups are inevitable both at school and at work, I need to ensure and encourage that our
meetings have an agenda and we always set a time limit for our meetings. I need to learn
to delegate work effectively to avoid role strain and eventually stress.

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Communication skill

Experience and Reflection

Upon my arrival at Hull, I was housed with colleagues whose first languages were not
English (a Chinese and a French housemate). Every time I spoke with them they usually
reply me either by a nod or a smile. At first, I never knew there was a problem until I
observed that whenever I needed them to reply my statement they usually don’t. This
scenario was also evidenced in my group meetings and also in my seminar classes.

My group meetings have presented different forms of communication problems.


Sometimes we argue for hours only to find out in the end that we were either saying the
same thing or one person didn’t understand what the other was saying maybe because of
his/her choice of words. The worst scenario I experienced was a solution presented by a
member which was ingenious but out of context with what we had to do. The member
didn’t clarify what she needed to do and I myself, as the group leader never asked if I
was understood. Sometimes, maybe due to cultural background, some members won’t
ask for clarity while some just dominates and don’t give room for others to either ask or
make suggestions. Our major challenge was cultural and language differences. For
example, smiling was a way of showing control in the midst of pressure in my culture,
but surprisingly, my French colleague sees it as a sign of unseriousness.

Critical Analysis

From my group experience, I have learnt that communication can be both verbal and
non-verbal (like the use of signs, facial expressions, and body language) (Rogers, 2003;
Baguley, 1994). The implication of this is that what I say has to be consistent with my
non-verbal communication otherwise it will send the wrong message to people. Ensuring
synchrony between this two nonetheless doesn’t automatically mean that the right
message will be understood. The person receiving the message may still misinterpret the
message maybe due to cultural differences, language differences, intellectual differences,
semantic distortion, unclarified assumptions, among others (Weihrich and Koontz, 2005).
These reasons are considered as noise (Warner, 1996), i.e. barriers in the communication
process which hinders effective communication. De Fleur’s model of communication
says noise, can occur at any point in the communication process (Warner, 1996).

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Communication is a two-way process (Cottrell, 2008; Lee-Froschheiser, 2008) and as
such one must allow for feedback from the other party, taking into consideration the
possibility of noise. Understanding which is an important part of communication (Lee-
Froschheiser, 2008) should therefore be emphasized and ensured that is achieved. The
implication of this in verbal communication (as one of the most common forms of
communication) is that one needs to listen for feedback to ensure one is been understood.
One needs to leave allowance for others and listen rather than “talking at” others which
should not be the goal of communication. Talking at other means I am only listening to
myself and not leaving room for responses from others (Cottrell, 2008). I need to learn to
listen not for hearing sake but rather to absorb or decode what I hear (Baguley, 1994),
understand the message (Caproni, 2005), the situation and other people (Cottrell, 2003).
I should not be engrossed with what I intend to deliver but also take into account who I
was delivering it to (Warner, 1996).

In communicating through new channels such as VoiPs (Yahoo messenger or Skype) or


emails, these channels should still not become the centre stage. What message goes
through them and the response we receive should rather be the emphasis (Quirke, 2008)
and we should see that understanding is still our number one priority.

The forming stage of a team/group presents the greatest challenge to effective


communication because it is said to be characterised of ambiguity and confusion
(Tuckman, 1965 cited in Arnold et. al., 2005). The task is yet unclear at this team
development stage and therefore the possibility of getting things wrong exists. However,
if one needs to give a negative feedback to a member of the team and still ensure that
effective communication is achieved, one needs to use a choice of language that will not
in any way threaten the other member’s autonomy or ego-driven need (Campbell, 2006
cited in Downing, 2008).

Planning Ahead

Having reflected on the loop holes in my communication effectiveness, I have resolved


to pay more attention to listening and to improve my ability to provide negative
feedback. However, since language is one very vital part of communication either
verbally (talking) or non-verbally (writing), I need to learn how to effectively translate
my ideas into words (to be spoken or written). I need to learn about the power of words
and how to employ them (e.g. motivation) to achieve effective communication.

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Newstrom and Davis (cited in Weihrich and Koontz, 2005) proposed ten techniques
which I will use to develop this skill. The first and last of this technique which are
important but difficult is to “stop talking.” I need to learn that silence also have its
importance (Cottrell, 2003) and should allow time for it.

TEAM WORKING

Experience and Reflection

Among the transferable skills that students are expected to take out of school is the
ability to work in groups and to interact satisfactorily with others in pursuit of a goal
(Barnett, 1992). My first concern as a group leader and a member of my team was
“equality”. I wanted everybody to feel like a part of the team. Most often I had to
suppress my own ideas or suggestions to allow other members’ ideas to be aired to foster
a sense of equality. I thought this would make me to be acceptable by all members but I
was wrong. However, since we all generated ideas, we had the difficulty of deciding
which idea to use. Everybody was trying to protect and establish their own ideas. People
were emotional about it irrespective of how practical their idea was. It seemed people
had a mentality that their ideas were a measurement of how intelligent they were. As a
result they focused so much on ensuring it was their idea that was eventually used. On
one occasion, one of the group members had to leave in anger and I had to plead over the
phone to get her back just because her idea was not reflected in our final report. Gender
and cultural differences played the most significant part in how we interacted and
confronted the task we needed to accomplish as a team.

Critical Analysis

A team has been defined as “a small number of people with complementary skills who
are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which
they hold themselves mutually accountable" (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993 cited in Levi
and Slem, 1995). My prior experience working in a committee in a NGO helped to
manage the team to a certain level. The team moved quickly through the forming stage
but had difficulty in progressing through the storming stage (Appendix 3). Tuckman
(1965) (cited in Arnold et. al. 2005) recognizes that this stage can be a difficult stage and
frustration may set in when there seems to be no progress.

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Belbin (1993) (cited in Clifford and Sohal, 1998) suggested that teams cannot be
successfully established without some understanding of "team role theory" i.e. “the
tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way”
(Blenkinsop and Maddison, 2007). If we were armed with such understanding, we were
expected to have been able to deal with the conflicts of the storming phase.

For team effectiveness we needed to have the necessary skills for accomplishing the task
on one hand and on the other we needed the social/emotional skill necessary to maintain
team processes (Prichard and Stanton, 1999). My team’s weakness in the latter skill
made it difficult to progress at the storming stage because we couldn’t handle our
personal differences. Ingroups (Groups within groups) (Chmiel 2003) developed due to
the relations-oriented diversity of the team, a consequence of lacking social /emotional
skills.

If a team’s diversity is well-managed, teams generate more ideas effectively than any
individual can do alone. As members of a team, efforts should be made to develop how
to work together to achieve the team’s goal (Bateman and Snell, 2002). Team
cohesiveness and ability of members to satisfy their own needs while working effectively
with other team members are essentials to team development (Nadler, 1998 cited in
Northouse, 2007).

Planning Ahead

In any opportunity I have to work in a team, right from onset I need to understand the
social complexity of the team. I will try and see how we could first discuss the possible
hindrances so that collectively we could work to overcome them, ensure integration, and
get through forming to performing stage quickly. As Belbin suggested, we will try and
assess each other’s preferred role using his “nine team roles” model (Appendix 4) and
encourage each member to appreciate the characteristics and strengths of others (Arnould
et. al., 2005). This act of identifying and understanding team roles in advance has been
said to be a crucial factor to the success of workgroup interactions (LoBue, 2002; Willer
et. al., 1997). In a culturally diverse team like the one I had in class, I need to learn about
the cultural differences of others so as to avoid perceptual distortion and the tendency to
rely on stereotypes and to improve communication (Mitchell, 1986 cited in Saphiere,
1996). In terms of leadership, when I am made to be the leader of a team, I will ensure
that the leadership responsibility is shared. Shared leadership results in improved team

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effectiveness, group productivity, and performance (Wood and Fields, 2007). I will
ensure that like the Japanese team work approach emphasizes, I allow for consensus
decision-making in order to create a sense of shared responsibility in the team (Levi and
Slem, 1995) so as to avoid any individual feeling betrayed or cheated. This will also help
reduce social loafing as every member will feel a sense of belonging seeing that their
idea is valued and necessary.

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APPENDIX

Appendix 1: Kolb’s LSI Scoring chart (Lecture notes)

Accommodating Diverging
26

36 22

Assimilating
Converging
36

Appendix 2: Tiime Matrix (Whetten & Cameron, 2002, pg 112)


Appendix 3: Tuckman, Bruce (1965) Team Development Model
(http://www.businessballs.com)

Appendix 4: Belbin’s Nine Team role and description (http://www.businessballs.com)

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APPENDIX 5: SHANNON AND WEAVER’S MODEL ((Warner, Tony, 1996)

Appendix 6: STANTON’S COMMUNICATION MODEL (1982) ((Warner, Tony,, 1996)

Appendix 7: Vak Learning Styles (http://www.businessballs.com)


Appendix 8: Kolb’s Learning Style and Honey and Mumford’s Typology of Learners
(http://www.businessballs.com)

Appendix 9: Kolb’s Learning Style and Honey and Mumford’s Typology of Learners

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