Introduction
The significance of employment in the life an individual cannot be gainsaid. Employment is a form of agreement or contract that is formed between two parties where individuals get paid for their work. One party is usually the employer from a corporation, or a non-profit organization while the other party is the employee. Employees attached to some fields may receive stock options, bonus payments, or perks. Different people working in various fields often have numerous accounts of their employment experiences both good and bad. Employees have to make work related choices based on their experiences which enable them to learn and grow in the process. Individuals in the work place succeed in some ventures and may fail in others (Fossum, 2011). However, their personality somewhat determines whether they will learn from their successes or their failures. This paper seeks detailed insight on a time I learnt from my employment experience, hoe the wise choices I made impacted on me and the kind of decisions that I would have made based on the knowledge from this course. It also gives details on why I learn more from my failures based on my quest to learn new things and to improve on their skill.
Question one: Learning from experience
One of the lessons that I learnt is that one should never shy away from asking questions if they don’t understand what someone else wants because the other person will most likely assume that you understand. It is better to sit down with the person, go over everything in detail and ask as many questions as needed that will help you with your new job duties. Based on what I have learnt from this course, I wouldn’t have made a different decision from that which I made back then. Employment is often done based on agreements in the form of contracts which are signed by both parties. These terms may be revised from time to time but the employer has to ensure that employees can cope and keep up with these changes. In some instances, they may need to train the employees so that they can understand and carry out their tasks effectively.
When the Commander added me more responsibilities, he was changing the terms of my contract which I had agreed to initially. It is important for the employer to consider the interests of both parties when changing the initial terms of agreement. When a contract is changed or updated, the employer and the employee have to negotiate the new terms and come to an agreement for effecting the changes. If need be, the employee has to be trained so that they can understand what the new responsibilities entail. Thus, employees have a right to ask for clarifications regarding new responsibilities. The negotiations that arise from a contract help both employers and employees to appreciate the process involved in collective bargaining relationship (Fossum, 2011).
Question two: Successes and failures
I learn better from my failures than successes. Success often comes when people fix the mistakes that they make rather than getting things right the first time. Innovators and problem solvers often have to make many mistakes before they come up with something perfect (Duhigg, 2012). When the problems become too complex and elusive, people are challenged to think harder and make even more trials before they achieve their target. The solution becomes even more effective after many trials and people learn a lot throughout the process. It is not possible to predict whether a given idea will actually sail through and produce the best outcomes. Sometimes, one has to take a risk and implement this idea always hoping for the best outcome (Labib & Harris, 2015). Failure is sometimes inevitable especially in instances where the outcome cannot be predicted. However, valid lessons are always obtained from these failures. Actually, the bigger the failure, the bigger the lesson obtained from it. I am one of those people who always want to learn new things and to improve on their skills, I find that, when I don’t succeed I find reasons to review what I did and find the mistakes that I made. I learn from these mistakes and ask others to help me improve on what I did wrong.
Learning is a continuous process that is carried on from school, to the different careers and in all aspects of life through a continuous process of self-exploration, enrichment and growth. Lessons are always learnt from all activities carried out regardless of whether they are good or bad (Labib & Harris, 2015). When people take time to consciously learn new things, they find encouragement and motivation to do new things. Greater satisfaction is found when something new is learn, implemented, and actually works effectively. This encourages people to become more creative and to constantly find things to improve about certain procedures, processes, concepts or skills (Drupsteen & Hasle, 2014). My zeal to learn new things enables me to stretch beyond my comfort zone and to break from the routine activities. This also helps me to remain motivated and interested in my undertakings and to continually pursue success by ensuring that I am armed with the right information at all times and that I act on it accordingly.
Question three: Working as the project manager at JBAIDS
As an Operations Coordinator for the Project Manager for the Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System (JBAIDS) Program, I was given more responsibilities by the Commander of Medical Countermeasure Systems in addition to those that I had. The commander felt like I could handle these additional responsibilities. The most demanding task that was added onto my plate was making me the Lead Defense Travel Administrator for the entire organization. At the time, I was responsible for handling travel issues for the group that I was supporting but I had no clue of what the LDTA role entailed. With my standard response of “Yes Sir”, I gladly took on that responsibility. I walked out of the Commander’s office completely confused with so many questions running through my mind. I stopped at the desk of the Executive Assistant, looked at her, then turned around and went back into the Commanders office. I asked him for a few moments of his time to explain to me what his vision was for this additional role and what exactly it entailed. I found out that someone else was responsible for this area and this was taken from him and he wanted me to have it. After a one hour conversation with the Commander, I had a better understanding of what he wanted me to do. This included the fact that I needed to attend training.
Conclusion
People pursue different careers that culminate in employment in different sectors. The employment is based on a contract that has to be signed between the employer and the employee who get paid for their work and for the services rendered. People have both good and bad experiences all of which force them to make crucial decisions. The decisions made at such instances may make the situation better or make it worse it sometimes. A person’s personality greatly influences the choice of decisions and the outcome of the situations which may either be a success or a failure. It is important to learn from the mistakes and to translate each failure into success by seeking to establish the cause of the problem through discussions with other people and through constant learning.
References
Drupsteen, L., & Hasle, P. (2014). Why do organizations not learn from incidents? Bottlenecks, causes and conditions for a failure to effectively learn. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 72, 351-358. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2014.07.027
Duhigg, C. (2012). The power of habit. New York: Random House.
Fossum, J. (2011). Labor Relations: Development, Structure, Process (12th ed.).
Labib, A., & Harris, M. (2015). Learning how to learn from failures: The Fukushima nuclear disaster. Engineering Failure Analysis, 47, 117-128. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2014.10.002
