How would you describe your experience in participating in this
course? How has your experience shaped your intention of
how to participate in future MBA courses?
I enjoyed the format of this course compared to other courses. I
appreciated that there were few video assignments and instead there
was focus on assignments that allow for some back and forth
conversation, such as these posts. I found that I was able to learn
quite a bit from my peers (thanks, ya'll!), and look forward to
interacting with classmates in similar ways in future courses.
What were some of the challenges you faced in this course, and
how did these challenges help you prepare for challenges in
today's VUCA world of work? How do you think future courses
will help you deepen your ability to work in the VUCA world?
The greatest challenge that I faced in this course was being able to
balance my schedule between my day job and the time required to
complete the course assignments. I have been working on my MBA
for about two years now and am finding that as I advance in my
degree, I am also advancing in my career, thus my responsibilities are
increasing and free-time decreasing. This certainly aligns with a
VUCA world - to remain successful in my coursework and my career,
I must be creative and adaptable as I face uncertainty, change and
complexity.
The fourth industrial revolution has introduced early advances
on the internet of things; artificial intelligence (AI); and the
production of smart equipment that can analyze, diagnose, and
fix issues without the need for human intervention. How do
these complex technological developments challenge leaders to
adapt their leadership style and behavior?
I think that these advancements in technology further emphasize the
need for human-focused leadership. While smart equipment can
make performing certain actions easier or have the ability to
compute data quickly, leadership must still focus on treating
individuals with respect, dignity, and compassion, and find ways that
motivate them and get them excited about their work.
Considering those challenges, what do you want to learn to
help prepare you to lead more effectively? How will your future
work in this program benefit you and the people you lead?
Something that I think it interesting about all of the SNHU courses
that I have taken so far is that they always feature prompts where
the student is asked to place themselves in the role of executive
management. While I think it is admirable to strive for executive
management, I personally, think it is much more realistic that I will
end up in a supervisor / middle management position. I think that
middle management poses a unique challenge in that you must be
able to connect with both employees and executives. You need to be
able to represent the ideas of your department as well as deal with
issues amongst your department. There are people issues, technical
issues, and administrative issues to contend with. While it has been
useful to go through the final project exercise for this course, I did
find it somewhat unrealistic, and instead got the most value out of
the LPI Challenge questionnaire. I hope to see additional resources
like this in future courses as well.
