Driven Management and Personal Happiness Strategy Plan

I applied for admission to Nova Southern University, EMBA program because I want a career in the research and teaching of management. In particular, I am interested in factors that affect the competitive performance of a business concern, and the manner in which changes in technology affect an organization's structure, long-term business strategy, product development, manufacturing, supply chains, distribution network, information needs and standard systems. In order to gain an appreciation of these and related issues, it is essential for me to have a strong grounding in Economics, Supply Chain Management, and issues connected with Information Technology, as well as gain a General Management perspective. I believe that this EMBA program would be invaluable in helping me achieve these objectives. It would enable me to channel my quantitative and conceptual skills in analyzing business issues and would open up new avenues in research.

I believe that my background in computer engineering and my studies in management will prepared me for such a career. I have found research fascinating since my computer engineering days. My six years of being employed as a computer engineer have provided me with a strong grounding in problem solving, analytical skills and the theoretical aspects of technology.

I joined Nova Southern University EMBA Business School in order to broaden my perspective and to improve my career prospects. Value Driven Management was a new subject to me. It was interesting, and I enjoyed applying quantitative and conceptual skills to analyze business problems. The class has given me valuable insights into the environment in which companies operate and how they affect this environment and are affected by it. It has enabled me to observe some of the better and worse ways of running a business.

Upon graduating from Nova Southern University EMBA business school my expectations is to be offered a job with a reputable management consulting firm this is where I anticipate applying the principles and lessons of management to real life.

There is a saying that states, "If you do what you love, then you'll never work a day in your life." I have worked too many jobs that I hated where I can truly attest to that saying. I was a people-pleaser. Too many find themselves in situations where they are perpetual people-pleasers. Their entire lives are based on serving and pleasing others. Value management refers to the ability to set priorities and take action toward achieving them. Value management requires honestly assessing what you are doing and determining whether it is relevant to your work and your life.

Since work is one of the most important emotional, psychological, mental and physical themes in all of our lives, and a major source of happiness, and sometimes unhappiness; therefore, anything we can do to make work a more positive and value-creating process in our lives is well worth exploring. While no one ever promised that making a living would be fun, exciting or even remotely interesting, the fact is, having a career that you love enhances your life immeasurably. "Most working men and women want to be proud of their jobs themselves, and their employers-and millions are." (Pohlman & Gardiner, 2000, p. 204).

Major changes have taken place in the global workplace, and workforce, in recent years, including the virtual death of lifetime employment with a single organization, and the emergence of contractual relationships between employers and consenting adult employees. The unquestioning loyalty that was traditionally given to the organization by grateful employees has been a victim of such changes, including a wave of downsizings that have cost millions of employees their jobs all over the world. "The death of loyalty as American workers and companies understand that term" (Pohlman & Gardiner, 2000, p. 209).

Therefore, my person business goals are to learn from Chapter 4 in the Value Driven Management book (Pohlman & Gardner, 2000 p 81-108). In this chapter it talks mostly being able to identify these business practices and organizational development tools that are necessary to its successful implementation. The Value Management process has provided me with the information to achieve a disciplined system, techniques to generate more sales, to generate and manage growth for tomorrow and how to focus on personal growth to maximize value creation within me and my employees. This process begins with data gathering to discover the overall goal of the organization. The time limitation on each assignment has taught me to plan well, work systematically and keep my reports up-to-date. At the same time, having to defend my analyses and recommendations, during discussions, has taught me to think rigorously and creatively.

Personal Time Management is about controlling the use of your most valuable (and undervalued) resource. The absence of Personal Time Management is characterized by last minute rushes to meet dead-lines, meetings which are either double booked or achieve nothing, days which seem somehow to slip unproductively by, crises which loom unexpected from nowhere. This sort of environment leads to inordinate stress and degradation of performance. This is not the way to be an effective manager.

Poor time management is often a symptom of over confidence: techniques which used to work with small projects and workloads are simply reused with large ones. However, inefficiencies which were insignificant in the small role are ludicrous in the large. You can not drive a motor bike like a bicycle, nor can you manage a supermarket-chain like a market stall. The demands, the problems and the payoffs for increased efficiency are all larger as your responsibility grows; you must learn to apply proper techniques or be bettered by those who do. Possibly, the reason Time Management is poorly practiced is that it so seldom forms a measured part of appraisal and performance review; what many fail to foresee, however, is how intimately it is connected to aspects which do.

Personal Time Management has many facets. Most managers recognize a few, but few recognize them all. There is the simple concept of keeping a well ordered diary and the related idea of planned activity. But beyond these, it is a tool for the systematic ordering of your influence on events; it underpins many other managerial skills such as Effective Delegation and Project Planning.

Personal Time Management is a set of tools which allow you to:

* eliminate wastage

* be prepared for meetings

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