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1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………… 3
2. Reflections on study and quantitative skills………………………………………………….. 3
2.1 Information……………………………………………………………………………………… 3
2.2 Self management……………………………………………………………………………… 3
2.3 Numeracy……………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
3. About group development………………………………………………………………………….. 4
4. Concluding remarks…………………………………………………………………………………… 5
Reference list………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6
Appendix Description of Tuckman (1965)’s five stage model……………………………….. 7
1. Introduction
The past semester witnesses an important milestone in my study and life which I had spent a lot of effort planning for in the beginning of the semester with the hope of enforce the plan in such a manner that it would help pay the way for my desired career path in the coming years. In this essay I will focus on the reflection my study and personal and career goals which I consider as important like Zuzelo (2010) said “Reflecting on the personal self is a valuable activity.
2. Reflections on study and quantitative skills
2.1 Information
Books and journal in the library on one hand and computer areas on the other, represent the two main information sources for students (Edwards 2009). And this also the best description of the way how I located and obtained the necessary resources to support my study and essay writing in which credible resources would be of critical importance. In term of the assessment to information regarding the study in the past semester, one thing that impress me a lot is the usefulness of journals piled in the corner of the library attracting no one’s eye ball in the first glance. But the journals compared to the most seen sources available on the web provide more credible sources with critical thinking about the particular topics which I found of great help to my study.
2.2 Self management
In term of self management so far according to the work I have done and progress that I had made, I have been following my plan to gear myself up for the desired career that I had planned for: an investment professional with a CFA qualification. And in the past semester, I had been reading widely about the fundamental knowledge about finance and economy under daily time management with the goal of reading enough of books and materials. For example, in order to finish reading a finance text book that I found of use to enhancing my finance theory I will set deadline of achieving this goal in one month’s time and divide this task into a weekly and daily based targets to be finished. And according to my experience that I had gain in the past semester, keeping life balance and healthy status is supplementary to the successful implementation of the time management.
2.3 Numeracy
As just mentioned, obtaining a CFA qualification and becoming a investment professional is the target that I want to reach in my career life which I had been striving hard for, and in this point quantitative analytical skills are definitely the skills that I had to manage. Though there are studies suggesting the limitation of the usefulness of quantitative methods, but as I read into the economy books, I found out that qualitative and quantitative methods are both of great use depending on the situations like Samuel and Gupta (1993) commented: An important way in which the credibility and relevance of applied economics can be enhanced is to use quantitative methods in a subordinate or supportive role to qualitative analysis. Detailed quantitative methods that I had learn in the past semester included mean, median, mode, standard deviation, the use of Microsoft Excel and other methods and techniques. And in order to collect the data for the quantitative and analytical usage, we had learn to use samples and questionnaires to obtain first hand data. And what’s more I learn how to design an effective set of questionnaires and communication skills to persuade people to participate the surveys.
3. About group development
Tuckman (1965) based on more than fifty small-team development cases studies concluded that there are five stages that a team may go through Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning (sees also appendix 1.0 for more information). The Tuckman (1965)’s five stage team development model is of great use according to the experience being a member of teams in the past semesters in term of various group work and team discussion and debates. And I observed that most teams would undergo the Forming, Storming, Norming stages in a relatively short of time but performing is stage is hard to reach without a good leadership. And as for me as a leader of the teams which I usually find interesting and challenging, but still I need to developed more abilities and skills to act more roles as Henry Mintzberg (1980) suggested that there are ten major managerial role that most successful managers would need to play.
4. Concluding remarks
Base on the reflection that I have made which may not cover all the study and personal life that I had experienced in the past semester such as the travelling and work experiences that I had tried as a kind supplementary experience to open my eye to the exciting and wonderful world such as the experience to work as a restaurant waiter in the restaurant near the school, it is safe to draw such a conclusion that I did a good job according to the previously plan that I had made in the beginning of the last semester, but there are still some improvements that could made and the most important thing is I should keep my persistence in the future under appropriate self management.
Reference list
Edwards, B. 2009, Libraries and learning resource centres, 2nd edition, Oxford: Elsevier
Mintzberg, H. 1980, The nature of managerial work, New Jersey: Prentice- Hall
Samuel, S. N. & Gupta, D. B., 1993, Issues in applied economics: an Australian text, Melbourne: Macmillan Education
Tuckman, B. W., 1965, Development sequence in small groups, Psychological bulletin, p384-399
Zuzelo, P. R. 2010, The Clinical Nurse Specialist Handbook, 2nd edition, London: Jones and Bartlett Publishers
Appendix Description of Tuckman (1965)’s five stage model