Past, Present, and Future Paper

Past, Present, and Future Paper

The University Of Phoenix (UOP) has helped working adults turn long-term goals into short-term goals by using an accelerated curriculum. The Bachelor of Science in Management program is designed to develop professional knowledge and skills of general managers in their organization or professional industry by improving organizational effectiveness. UOP's mission statement focuses on student learning and takes the team approach to learning, similar to every day real world business. Two years ago, I came back to the United States from Asia. I felt kind of lost because I didn’t have a degree to find myself a better career. Also I feel lack of confidence that most of my friends have a degree but I don’t, so I went to the UOP web site and made an appointment with an academic counselor.

I began my studies at the University of Phoenix in June 2006. The ability to learn in a classroom lecture setting and to apply knowledge toward group based projects has been an invaluable part of the school's curriculum. This paper, being written near the completion of the management major's core curriculum, will discuss and evaluate into three parts. 1. Where I was in my personal and professional life when I started the University of Phoenix program. 2. The growth I experienced during my UOP’s program of study. 3. The impact of completing the University of Phoenix bachelor’s program on my current and future professional goals.

The role of learning has a great impact of my personal growth and development. I have to say I am learning and improving everyday through my daily life. I learned from communicate with others, read, research, and jobs. The information that I learned from my daily life is piece by piece and sometimes is hard to combine this information together and apply them into the knowledge that I can use. Without personal growth and development is equal to falling behind with the society. My level of professional competence in problem solving, written and oral communication skills was not up to the average level. I was afraid to communicate with people through emails. My information retrieval and utilization skill wasn’t efficient enough to manage a higher level position in a company. My career goal is to become a business owner. I’m looking forward to learn as much as I can from UOP and my job experience so I can create an outstanding business from scratch. My goal is to make this business auto-run and also able to allow me to learn from competing with other companies.

After completing my management core classes, I can look back and see substantial development. Along with the noticeable benefit of receiving formal education in techniques, tools, and information used in organizations, the University of Phoenix’s management program has provided various other material paybacks. Two weeks after my UOP’s classes started, studying has quickly become a motivating and rewarding activity. The management program and particularly courses like MGT/330, Management: Theory, Practice and Evaluation, has provided me with a greater understanding of the fundamental reasons for why organizations operate in the manner they do, what factors are used in making important decisions and how organizations produce the values that are used in developing processes and procedures. Even with a substantial background in management, the program helped me develop a renewed perspective of an educated manager. I have also seen development in my attitude toward business as a whole. Human Resource Management, MGT/431, helped with my seeing business as a constant effort between management and employees, both salaried and bargaining unit, so now I am able to see the mechanism that creates the relationship for a harmonious productive environment. Of course, the most noticeable benefit from my management courses came from Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision Making, MGT/350. Drawing from my previous work experience, the curriculum explained, expanded and challenged my experience base. In explaining business practices and the reasons for them, the class equipped me with additional information to make for creative decisions. The wealth of information also helped me reexamine some long-standing conceptions about how things ought to be done and make adjustments to my assumptions. It is difficult to expand on my general education classes as I still have these classes on my schedule. The one class that I have already completed was GEN/300, Skills for Professional Development.

Regarding to changes or accommodations that would enhance and improve my University of Phoenix experience, I would like to see UOP have actual school facilities in other countries. I’m totally enjoyed the freedom of studying at home, but what if someone would like to move to other countries, how can they continue to finish their degree. About classroom discussion, I would like to see there are more interactive between instructor and students. There must be a chat panel in place so we can communicate with the instructor right away for educational needs.

The role of life long learning is important to everyone. After I have completed my degree from UOP, I clearly and feel my personal growth and development has a solid foundation compare to before. The way I’ve learned how to do research for team and individual assignments, it makes me do research right away when I don’t know about something in life. It becomes a habit to me now. From doing team assignments, now I know team work is the most important thing when we need to accomplish something in life for in the workplace.

My personal and professional goal in the next five years is to become a business owner. This business must be using e-commerce and allow me to take advantage of the internet to help people. Provide some type of services that can help people’s life more convenience. My educational goal in the next five years is to obtain a Master degree of Management. I will continue my education with University of Phoenix. I have to become an expert on how to setup a business from scratch. I haven’t decided what industry I will be entering by using what I’ve learned from UOP, but I will definitely take advantage of the internet and create my own company.