Question One
Through learning finance in college, various concepts in finance have shaped my ideas and the way I think today. The study of the financial systems, corporate finance, financial reporting, and financial management has enlightened me on the basic financial concepts that have changed my thinking. The knowledge has enabled me to understand fully how financial managers operate and the specific guidelines used to make a financial decision (Messner, 2013). The knowledge of financial systems and financial management have shaped my thinking and ideas about making viable financial decisions in life.
I have been able to apply the knowledge I have learned in finance throughout my school life in making financial decisions. The finance concept of financial management has helped me to manage the few funds I get from my parents, and I make a proper budget for my money; thus avoiding running out of cash for payment of bills (Messner, 2013). The concept of financial reporting has helped me to observe integrity and accountability in the professional student’s organizations where I serve as the finance secretary. I prepare accurate financial statements for the organization using the financial reporting knowledge taught in class.
Since I have developed a deep understanding of the finance concepts, I will keep on utilizing them in the area of my business enterprise plan. I will ensure that the business enterprise plan is fully compliant with the internationally accepted financial concepts in financial reporting, financial management, corporate finance, and management accounting (Messner, 2013). Upon application of all these finance concepts, I am certain that my business enterprise plan will stand out as one of the best because all the financial decisions will be made upon consideration of the financial concepts learned in college.
Question Two
Upon working with my group on the business enterprise plan, I have learned quite significant things about myself. First I have learned that I am an extrovert because of the way I make my contributions while with my colleagues. My desire to keep on talking and engaging in arguments with my friends during our group discussion proves that I am an extrovert in nature (Jadin, Gnambs & Batinic, 2013). Before making a decision on anything, I like finding the details on the topic to gain a full understanding and factual evidence to defend my decision; meaning that I have the personality of sensing as opposed to the intuitive personality trait.
Since I am an extrovert in nature, I find it very difficult to keep information for myself, which means I am divergent (Jadin, Gnambs & Batinic, 2013). In our group for the business enterprise plan, I do share all the necessary information at my disposal without keeping to myself any information beneficial to the entire group. Besides, my response to the arguments raised by the other members of the group is based purely on my thinking. I try my level best to avoid decisions that are guided by my emotional feeling because I believe that the contribution of every group member is essential for the group success.
My development of self-knowledge will benefit me very much towards attaining my career goals because I believe that my career objectives are within my knowledge limit and attainable. The personal knowledge developed throughout my college education will enable me to make viable decisions, which in my career life with the aim of attaining self-actualization needs at the end of my career life (Jadin, Gnambs & Batinic, 2013). Specifically, the financial knowledge I have acquired from my finance classes will be very instrumental towards attaining my long-term career objectives.
Question Three
The PMU competencies are considered to be of great value to the learners as they make them be effective professionals in whichever field they specialize. Specifically, the PMU competency of teamwork involves the ability of a professional to work effectively with a team of other professionals with the aim of accomplishing specific tasks and attaining the set objectives for the group to achieve (West, 2012). My understanding about this PMU competence is that professionals should be able to work well as a team to perform challenging tasks within their job description without any sought of conflict.
As a student at PMU, I have effectively applied the competency of teamwork throughout my study. During the group work on the business enterprise plan, I portrayed this competence in the group by contributing to the success of our plan. I made a tangible contribution towards ensuring that our group emerged the best in the class by encouraging the spirit of teamwork among the members. We were able to effectively accomplish the challenging task assigned to us by the lecturer and performed well in the end. I ensured that I was always cooperative within the group, and I made a significant contribution all through while analyzing the ideas of the other group members critically to attain the best results.
My clear understanding of the competence of teamwork has been very resourceful towards working on the business enterprise plan assigned in the class. The competency has helped us to work as a team with minimal conflicts, and we accomplished the task. The business enterprise plan was very comprehensive, and it needed the contribution of each group member to come up with a detailed plan. Therefore, the application of the competency of teamwork has helped our group to consolidate all our ideas to come up with a good plan (West, 2012). Though the teamwork, we have been able to brainstorm on the possible approaches to the tasks and merged the opinions of everyone to attain collective success.
Question Four
According to my understanding, the PMU competence of critical thinking and problem solving entails the ability of an individual to reason logically and be creative enough in all their undertakings. The competency enables professionals to make informed and responsible decisions based on deep analysis of the topic to achieve the intended goals (Nelson, 2013). It can also be used to solve any conflicts arising from a group involvement through analyzing the topic of conflict critically and offering the most appropriate solution possible.
Throughout my period of study in the PMU, I have applied the competency of critical thinking and problem solving in numerous scenarios. For example, I have been able to analyze topics of assignments critically and come up with viable solutions, which have helped me to excel academically (Nelson, 2013). Besides, I have used this competency in solving either my individual or other people’s conflict through assessing the source of the misunderstanding and acting accordingly to rectify such issues. Being a leader of various professional organizations in the college, I have been forced to think critically and provide solutions during times of management crisis within the organization.
Personally, I am applying this competency of critical thinking and problem solving in my group for the business enterprise plan assignment. Due to the complexity of this task, we are forced to critically analyze all the opinions of everyone within the group with the aim of coming up with the most viable ideas. Critical thinking has helped me come up with brilliant ideas that have resulted in a quality business enterprise plan. On the other hand, we have been experiencing numerous conflicts within the group in the process of our arguments. Some of the conflicts turn out to be personal, and we are forced to apply the competency of problem-solving to end the conflicts soonest before they become group crisis.
Question Five
I understand the leadership competency as the ability of professionals to be fully informed, effective, and responsible in their leadership positions. Leadership in this context entails being a leader in the family, in the community on in the workplace or school. A leader should be able to make informed decisions based on clear evidence to avoid any sense of bias whenever making decisions (Daft, 2014). A leader should lead effectively such that good results can be attributed to their leadership and also being responsible for whichever decision they make within the jurisdiction of their leadership positions.
Throughout my entire student life at PMU, I have practiced the competency of leadership in many ways. As a leader of the professional organization in college, I was mandated to make financial decisions as the finance secretary of the organization to ensure that the financial position of the organization remains strong and stable. I served as a leader for the organizations and together with the rest of the team, we were able to make strategic decisions which have been effective up to now. As a finance secretary, I have also been accountable for all the finances of the organizations as well as being responsible for all financial matters relating to the organization (Daft, 2014). The leadership position has enabled me to apply the PMU competency of leadership by being an informed, effective and responsible leader.
As a future business leader, I would wish to contribute significantly to the current local and global business community using the knowledge acquired in college. I would use my worth of knowledge in finance to transform the today’s business through embracing the modern financial systems. I would specifically offer my contribution in the field of electronic business because the future of our economies lies on technology. I would introduce the electronic money transfer as modes of making payments for good and services both locally and internationally (Daft, 2014). Electronic business is much safe because it involves cashless transactions thus reducing the chances of financial fraud or theft.
My contribution to the application of the PMU competencies learned in college will transform the business world and bring integrity in both local and international businesses.
The competencies of leadership, critical thinking and problem solving as well as teamwork will enable me to make a significant impact in today’s local and global business community. Upon impacting these core competencies on the minds of other business leaders in the community, I will have transformed the entire local and international business in the long run (Daft, 2014). I will apply my knowledge in finance to streamline the businesses financial reporting processes, financial management processes, financial systems administration, and management accounting knowledge to both local and international businesses. Finally, I would use the skills of critical thinking and problem solving, leadership skills and teamwork skills acquired in the PMU classes to transform the business world.
References
Daft, R. (2014). The leadership experience. Stamford: Cengage Learning.
Jadin, T., Gnambs, T., & Batinic, B. (2013). Personality traits and knowledge sharing in online communities. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), 210-216.
Messner, W. (2013). Key financial concepts. In Making the Compelling Business Case (pp. 90-125). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Nelson, L. M. (2013). 4 Collaborative I Problem Solving. Instructional-design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory, 2, 241.
West, M. A. (2012). Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organizational research. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
