Program Goal C
This program goal’s objective is to identify theories and methods to analyze and develop strategy, and to learn management tools and frameworks to gain a competitive advantage. This program goal requires the knowledge of key concepts, tools, and principles of business management for the information professionals who want to pursue management positions in the field (McGrath, Shaffer, Dasu, Suh, 2019). Furthermore, managing within an organization successfully requires effective verbal, non-verbal, and written communication (Patton, 2019). The Master of Management in Library and Information Science (MMLIS) program allows several opportunities for students to learn, assess, and practice management and communication skills.
This program goal is especially important for library and information professionals as they should be prepared to be leaders and managers in their fields. If we are passionate about the work we do and would like to learn how to lead others to do well in our field, we should be the manager’s we wish we had. As communication is the transfer of information or knowledge, information professionals facilitate information and the exchange of ideas. Successful leaders in this field are known for their ability to connect with stakeholders, to speak and write effectively, and to enable opportunities for collaboration through strong interpersonal communication skills (Patton, 2019). Thus, this program goal requires an understanding of management strategies and knowing how to communicate and influence individuals and teams to adopt the strategies and work processes presented to them.
During my second semester in the MMLIS program, I took the course GSBA520: Business Fundamentals for Non-Business Professionals. This course was an accelerated, heavy workload course that taught modules in Accounting, Operations, Strategy, and Marketing within a fifteen-week period. During this course, we read about different management frameworks and analyzed several case studies where we applied the concepts and frameworks we learned to the case. For the Compare Business Strategies assignment, I compared two different frameworks to show my knowledge of both of them. I discussed a SWOT analysis, which is a compilation of a company’s internal Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. I also discussed Michael Porter’s Five Forces Framework. The Five Forces Framework evaluates an organization’s external environment by analyzing Competitors, Supplier Power, Buyer Power, Threat of Substitutes, and Threat of New Entries in their industry. I compared and contrasted the two to demonstrate that I understand the differences between the two and how they can help an organization make strategic decisions to gain an advantage in their industry.
Similarly, in the operations module of the course, I learned about process management and operations. I learned about how processes and operations can affect an organization’s cost. I applied the concepts of process and operations to Porcini’s Pronto case study. This case study was about Porcini’s Pronto, a pop-up restaurant that was looking into developing a new micro process to enter into a new market. Lastly, during the Marketing module, I learned about branding, segmentation, and advertising. I applied the marketing frameworks to Volvo’s marketing strategy in India. In all the modules of the course, I was tasked to read about the various business tools which address the program goal’s objective of the knowledge of key concepts, tools, and principles of business.
I also demonstrate my competency in this program goal during GSBA502: Management Communication for Leaders course. During this course, I developed a communication solution for my current workplace and presented the solution in a six-minute video. In my presentation, I discuss the current communication issues in the Amazon IT Support organization. The IT support organization employed approximately five hundred IT Engineers who supported all the IT needs of Amazon corporate office employees in the North America region. The directors and upper management of the IT Support organization often faced challenges communicating important information to IT engineers. IT engineers would often receive vital information late, or not at all. This break in communication would affect the delivery of efficient IT service, which would cause disruption to the productivity of other Amazon employees. Moreover, IT engineers would sometimes feel isolated, unincluded, and unmotivated to do their jobs due to the lack of communication. In my communication development plan video, I proposed to implement a weekly standup meeting with IT Engineers to discuss changes in the organization, common IT issues, and solutions to fix them. The half-hour standup meeting could also help the IT engineers share resources and form a camaraderie to promote unity and motivation within the organization. The Amazon IT Support Communication Strategy assignment demonstrated my competency in this program goal as I demonstrated effective verbal communication in my presentation. This assignment addresses the goal objective of using effective communication to influence teams and individuals to adopt strategies within a business environment.
During the last two semesters, I have also led the American Library Association Student Chapter (ALASC) at USC as the board’s President. As President, I have had the opportunity to lead a team of six, accomplish successful meetings, host fun events for the students of the program, and create a monthly newsletter. Shortly after the new board was elected, the team and I developed our Team Charter for the year where we distinguished the different positions and distributed responsibilities among the members. The Team Charter has been an effective managing tool to keep each team member and me accountable for our responsibilities and team expectations. Creating the Team Charter demonstrates my competency of this program goal as I am applying managing practices to making team decisions. I have effectively communicated to team members in order to persuade them to willfully adopt work processes presented to them.
This program goal requires one to have knowledge of several management frameworks and strategies and how to communicate effectively as a leader. The various case studies I discussed allowed me to apply the concepts I learned to real scenarios as the program goal states. I also demonstrated my mastery of this goal by developing and presenting a communication strategy for a real problem at my current workplace and using effective communication as President of ALASC by implementing a Team Charter among the board. As an information professional, I can use these management tools and frameworks in any organization. I can also prove I work as an effective leader that communicates and accomplishes team goals due to my mastery of this program goal.
References
McGrath, M., Shaffer, G., Dasu, S., Suh, J. 2019. GSBA520: Business Fundamentals for Non-Business Professionals [Syllabus]. Los Angeles, CA: Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. https://ia601409.us.archive.org/29/items/gsba-520-syllabus-fa-19/GSBA520_Syllabus_FA19.pdf
Patton, G. 2019. GSBA502 Management Communication for Leaders [Syllabus]. Los Angeles, CA: Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. https://ia601508.us.archive.org/18/items/gsba-502-su-19-syllabus/GSBA502_SU19_Syllabus.pdf
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