Step one in the exam…

As soon as the clock starts I’m going to blurt out everything onto a ‘cheat sheet’ – got 10 mins to do it – here was my first attempt. Everything in blue I remembered, red = must try harder 😊

Not sure I know all the exact details of every single one though – I’ll just have to use the force!

Year 1 on an index card….

Well I seem to be getting there. Have managed to get two units down in size and onto index cards.

I’ve put names of people to each topic to help me remember the content. The foundations relate to my tutor – he really does help me to consider the important fundamentals, and marketing to my best friend who, to be honest, could probably have had his name on all the cards but I thought marketing was best suited and besides it would be unfair on others 🙂

Bit light on the critique and business examples as you will see but I’m getting more comfortable with the idea of being able to apply the little knowledge I have of businesses/management issues to models in general – I’m starting to think it’s all about context of the question and I can’t read the future so flexibility and an adaptable mind is probably more important than specifics here. Is that a sweeping/assuming statement!???

A possible approach to business examples….

I’ve been thinking hard about this.

It would be a massive task to review every theory, framework, model and be able to commit to memory and recall each one in preparation for the exam. There has to be a better, more efficient and effective way to tackle this.

So how about this….. My questions marketing, operations and change are functional areas that affect most businesses – SME’s, multinationals, private, public, not for profit….. the topics are everywhere right!?

So why not pick a few contemporary businesses, or ones that I know a bit about already, and consider their marketing, operations and change functions – that has to be a more reasonable, sustainable, flexible and effective approach. That way I can apply a small amount of businesses to a large amount of frameworks, not a large amount of businesses to
large amounts of frameworks.

Makes sense to me – and of it saves time and effort I’m up for giving it a go. Let’s see how it works out.

What’s left to do……?

Sat having a coffee and taking time to review the mammoth amount of operations info that I’ve scribbled down on paper today – and trying to imagine how to add it to my nearly full memory banks!

So what have I got left to do before exam day?

– take this learning a stage further and be happy reproducing some applied diagrams for business/experience examples.

– not forget to review my Ebi notes, it’s the most important question in the exam and it was a long time ago that I revisited it!

– review exam tactics; time per question, know question numbers inside out….

– practice/at worst plan for some of the specimen/past paper questions.

– create condensed revision cards to review.

The so what …..

*get to work on business and experience examples, if I know them I can throw them into applied diagrams and kill two birds with one stone.

*review EBI.

*get index cards sorted after that. The sooner I have them the simpler/quicker revisited preparation will be.

*nail down exam tactics and timings – prepare exam kit (pens, pencils, sweets……).

*keep reviewing index cards!

All things Operations…

It’s been emotional getting this down on paper – bit of a rush so not sure how much is going in!

Now to review the lot, conjure up some real time business/experience examples and condense it all to some index cards!

All things Projects and Change….

Love this topic but there is so much to try and remember! Recorded on podcast to listen to in the car on the work commute 🙂

All things ‘Marketing’….

 

Again in not sure how this will stay in my head yet – this one is Sid Murrey. I love the idea behind marketing, very clever and intimately linked with understanding people.

All things ‘Exploring Management’….

Amazed if all this remains in my head before the exam. Might call this one John Evans – it knits everything else together nicely and provides good starting points for all.

Changing risks – A new approach to revision…

Ive had to change my approach to revision, it was just too slow and I didn’t have the time to maintain the detail I was hoping to. The risk with my previous approach would be that I didn’t cover all he topics needed before the exam started – an situation to be avoided I’m sure!

Instead of spending four days per unit I am now spending 1-2 days on each with the aim of simply understanding the theories. This will ensure that I at least know and can reproduce them across all my chosen areas for the exam.

With the remaining time – I will spend a day on each unit to develop my understanding, by considering pros and cons, and seeking a real life example to apply to it (including perhaps the use of an applied diagram).

That leaves me two days to condense everything to index cards, from he large A3 pages I am currently doing, two days to skim over a reserve topic (HR) and four days to review the cards prior to the exam!

The good thing is that from the point of starting to create index cards I am off of work, so can really use my time productively. Am planning to assign people I know to each topic for recall – that way I should be able to spend the first ten minutes of the exam reproducing from memory everything on the index cards. How about my anaesthetist friend as a trigger for remembering ‘operations’ 🙂

EBI Cycle 2: Fowler (1996) Induction levels

Having spent ages trying to find a model to help change the behaviour of staff leaving the organisation (in order to help my project succeed) friends and colleagues helped me see that when you have a ‘people’ issue – look to the ‘people (hr) theories for a solution. It’s quite embarrassing really!

Fowler’s (1996) inductio levels suggests four key areas for consideration – individual, job/task level, support at depth level and organisational level. The sub-topics of each can be seen in my diagram above.

This model helped me to see the need to emphasise on the job training and set goals/provide rewards related to my project to new arrivals.

It also signpostedme to wider issues such as socialisation (from PESTLE) which will help build project team/stakeholder cohesion.

Retrospectively it helped me to see that the issues I had raised linked to the OGC Change Model (discussed/referenced in later post). Where i had/could use common reasons for project failure to surface levers, individualised leadership and social opportunities for stakeholder engagement/integration. This experience has been great in providing a nifty approach to risk management where the OGC reasons for project failure provide a trigger for me to identify risks and seek mitigating actions.

Areas where I had to work hard to ale the model fit the situation were; it is easy to get bogged down in the vast amount if sub- topics, presentation of the model as a list doesn’t help here. , as always not all areas of the model may be appropriate. On reflection I think if I were Fowler I would find a more creative way to present the model in order to do it more justice – it has been much more than just a list for me! And as with Morgan and Hunts (1994) trust model the need to seek wider business function links is quite tacit.

So what……

– I need to consult the model prior to every new induction, rather than having a one size fits all induction ‘tick sheet’ – you’ll know them we’ve all had to use them/create them in the past. Boring! But hone down the list.

– when trying to maintain project momentum look for larger strategic links to incentivise effort and reward the behaviour you want to see so that it sticks and the message gets out to others

– identifying stakeholders and opportunities for joint working (where a project relates) is soooo important!

– always look to consider the wider business functions, they surface so much helpful info in planning action.

– consider presentation and how it can be adapted to capture interest. List aren’t great are they!

So there it is my second review of an applied model with a ‘real life’ Jonathan Miller example of its use. Struggling to find any related business examples so if you see/hear of any let me know – I’d be very grateful. I’ll keep looking in the meantime (it’s like writing to ‘dear diary’). 🙂