OL125 | Grad-School Life in General Questions - Southern new hampshire university
OL 125 Module Three Short Response Overview: With unstable economies becoming increasingly more common, businesses look to different aspects of their company to save money, improve performance, and boost their position amongst their competitors. One of the most important areas of focus is human relations, which directly influences productivity, motivation, and employee retention. In order for you to succeed professionally, you will need to develop a special set of human relations skills that includes self-awareness, strong leadership qualities, the ability to motivate, and the ability to facilitate communication. As you have read, the communication process is vital to organizations to positively impact organizational culture, ensure employees have the right information they need to be effective, and enable individuals to make the right decisions at the right time—sometimes in critical situations. For this assessment, you will write a short response paper in which you engage with the primary skills that are necessary for successful leadership and organizational relations across the business environment. In this short response, you will address your own knowledge of human relations and your interpretation of the reading materials and other resources provided to you in this course.
This assessment addresses the following course outcome:
? Explain how the communications process in leadership situations affects positive human relations Prompt: For this short response paper, you will be asked to outline the communication process and discuss how communication can positively impact human relations in organizations. In doing this, you will address each of the elements below in one paragraph each. You may wish to refer to Page 3.3 of your webtext for assistance. Specifically, the following critical elements must be
addressed:
I. Communication Process: Describe the main elements
involved in the communication process in your own words, including their importance to organizational culture.
II. Common Barriers to Communication: Define a common
barrier to communication and provide a brief example of how this barrier impacted the communication process from your own experience in a workplace or group setting.
III. Communication and Leadership: Describe how you, as a
leader, use the communication process to impact positive human relations. Provide at least one example of a time when you have used communication effectively. OL 125 Module Five Short Response Overview: With unstable economies becoming increasingly more common, businesses look to different aspects of their company to save money, improve performance, and boost their position amongst their competitors. One of the most important areas of focus is human relations, which directly influences productivity, motivation, and employee retention. In order for you to succeed professionally, you will need to develop a special set of human relations skills that includes self-awareness, strong leadership qualities, the ability to motivate, and the ability to facilitate communication. You have learned about theories of motivation, the experience of conflict, negotiation processes, and methods for making effective decisions. This assessment allows you to engage with the primary skills that are necessary for successful leadership and organizational relations across the business environment. Your short response should address your own knowledge of human relations and your interpretation of the reading materials and other resources provided to you in this course.
This assessment addresses the following course outcome:
? Illustrate how the relationship between motivation, stress, and time management influences workplace dynamics Prompt: For this short response paper, discuss the ways in which motivation, stress, and time management can influence workplace dynamics, using your own experiences as a reference. In doing this, you will address the elements below in one paragraph each. Specifically, the following critical elements must be
addressed:
I. Motivation: Describe a way in which organizations can
influence workplace motivation, using an example from your own experience where this was done effectively or ineffectively. What was the result on workplace dynamics?
II. Workplace Stress: Describe how an organization, and specifically
organization leaders, can minimize workplace stress. Provide an example from your own experience here as well, explaining how the organization’s action reduced stress in the workplace.
III. Time Management: Describe how you, as a leader, can use
effective practices in time management to prioritize your time for critical issues in the workplace. Why is prioritizing your time important? OL 125 Milestone One Overview: In this course, you will have many opportunities to take self-assessments that will allow you to reflect on yourself as a person, student, and professional. This first milestone gives you an opportunity to reflect on your own strengths and opportunities for improvement as they pertain to leadership. Prompt: For this milestone assignment, provide an initial self-reflection that discusses your own strengths as well as areas you feel you may need to improve. Consider how these aspects of your personality and self-concept will allow you to improve your skills in a future leadership role. This assignment will allow you to receive instructor feedback on your personality strengths and weaknesses that will be important in
completing Milestone Two:
SWOT Analysis in Module Four and the final project in Module Seven. Specifically, the following critical elements must be
addressed:
I. Strengths: Discuss the aspects of your personality and
self-concept that serve as a particular strength as you consider your future leadership opportunities. Why are these important to you and to others you may be leading?
II. Areas of Improvement: Conversely, what aspects of your
personality and self-concept may lead to difficulties in your future work as a leader? What areas of improvement have you identified? OL 125 Milestone Two Overview: In this course, you will have many opportunities to take self-assessments that will allow you to reflect on yourself as a person, student, and professional. This second milestone gives you an opportunity to identify your own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for improvement as they pertain to leadership. Prompt: For this milestone assignment, complete the SWOT Analysis Template and write a brief reflection on a component of this analysis that you found most interesting. The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis will help you determine more information about where your additional strengths and weaknesses lie. In addition, the SWOT analysis can help you identify opportunities that you may not have otherwise known about in addition to helping you understand weaknesses and eliminate threats that could keep you from moving forward. When completing the SWOT analysis template, create a list of at least four bullet points, in complete sentences, for each component. Draw from your Milestone One work and feedback you received to help you complete this assignment. Remember that both milestone assignments will be important components to your final project in Module Seven. Specifically, the following critical elements must be
addressed:
SWOT Analysis: The SWOT analysis will help you determine more information about where your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats lie and how these components relate to a role in leadership. Your
answers in the SWOT analysis template must address in complete sentences:
I. Strengths: Address how your personality strengths could
benefit you in a leadership role.
II. Weaknesses: Address potential weaknesses in your
personality as a leader and how your temperament, character, approach to conflict, and/or attitude about taking on a leadership role may be areas for improvement or change.
III. Opportunities: Address opportunities you could take
advantage of, based on your strengths you have provided.
IV. Threats: Address the external or unexpected threats that
may impact your leadership, including how you could be using your strengths you have listed to guard against these threats.
V. Reflect on a section of the SWOT analysis, and include
what you found most interesting about it. OL 125 Final Project
Overview
With unstable economies becoming increasingly more common, businesses look to different aspects of their company to save money, improve performance, and boost their position amongst their competitors. One of the most important areas of focus is human relations, which directly influences productivity, motivation, and employee retention. In order for you to succeed professionally, you will need to develop a special set of human relations skills that includes selfawareness, strong leadership qualities, the ability to motivate, and the ability to facilitate communication. Your final project in this course will be a reflection on yourself in your organization and at Southern New Hampshire University. You will analyze your own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as they pertain to your own leadership skills as well as identify appropriate skills that contribute to influencing workplace productivity, engagement, and motivation. The final deliverable will be a plan with three goals and action steps that you have determined are the best fit for you as a leader. In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the
following course outcomes:
? Explain how individual personality, perception, leadership styles, and self-concept influence human relations in informing the development of a personal leadership philosophy ? Explain how the communications process in leadership situations affects positive human relations ? Illustrate how the relationship between motivation, stress, and time management influences workplace dynamics ? Identify appropriate human interaction skills necessary for managers to positively influence productivity Prompt Based on your knowledge of human relations, you will write a paper addressing the different factors that have influenced your leadership philosophy, including personality, perception, leadership styles, and self-concept. In addition, you will examine how your leadership philosophy impacts your understanding of the communications process, workplace dynamics, and management skills. Specifically, the following critical elements must be
addressed:
I. Personality and Self-Concept: In this section, you will
devote one detailed paragraph to your identified strengths and weaknesses as you consider future leadership opportunities. You may draw from your SWOT analysis in your responses. Please be sure to address the following in the two sections of your
paragraph:
A. Strengths: Discuss the aspects of your personality and
self-concept that serve as a particular strength as you consider your future leadership opportunities. Why are these important to you and to others you may be leading?
B. Areas of Improvement: Conversely, what aspects of your
personality and self-concept may lead to difficulties in your future work as a leader? What areas of improvement have you identified?
II. Human Interaction Skills: In two paragraphs, you will
identify at least two skills—drawing from your course readings and your own experiences—that can positively influence workplace productivity, engagement, and/or motivation. In your discussion of each skill, be sure to address the
following questions underneath the skill:
A. Description of Skill: What is this skill, and how is it
used in personnel management?
B. Engagement and Motivation: How specifically would this
skill positively impact engagement or motivation?
C. Intended Impact: How specifically does this skill
positively influence workplace productivity?
III. Personal Development Plan: Finally, you will bring
together your reflections on personality, self-concept, and human interaction skills in order to create actionable steps for your future as a leader. First, include a final paragraph answering the first prompt below. Then, identify three goals to enhance your skills as a leader.
A. First, reflect on how this experience has helped shape
your personal leadership philosophy. Be specific.
B. Next, using the provided plan template, identify relevant
goals to enhance your skills as a leader, action steps to achieving those goals, potential obstacles you may face, and a plan to overcome those obstacles. Milestones Milestone One: Personality and Self-Concept In Module Two, you will provide an initial self-reflection that discusses your own strengths as well as areas you feel you may need to improve. You will consider how these aspects of your personality and self-concept will allow you to improve your skills in a future leadership role. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric. Milestone Two: SWOT Analysis In Module Four, you will perform a SWOT analysis. The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis will help you determine more information about where your additional strengths and weaknesses lie. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric. Final Submission: Personal Leadership Reflection In Module Seven, you will describe your personal leadership philosophy and then examine how that leadership philosophy informs your use of the communications process, understanding of workplace dynamics, and management skills. Draw from the feedback you received from your completed assignments throughout this course, and use the provided Personal Leadership Reflection Template to complete the final project. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric. The Career Connection: Students are also encouraged to share their reflections with SNHU Career, both throughout the term and once they have completed their reflections. Our career advisors are aware of this assignment and are looking forward to working with you in using this plan to help you find your best career fit. You can reach SNHU Career by emailing cocecareer@snhu.edu, calling 888-672-1458, or utilizing their extensive online resources. Be sure to identify yourself as an OL 125 student.