Management Techniques
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This paper is a study of two experiences I had that taught me a great deal about management technique and the application of theories we have studied in class. In the first experience, my introduction to teaching opened my eyes to the fact that learning is a lifelong process, not something that ends when I take on the role of a teacher or a manager. I had always assumed that being put in charge would allow me to use my position to pass on what I had already learned. I had not expected that, instead, I would end up discovering more than my students, both about the subject I was teaching and about my deficiencies as an instructor. The lessons I learned as a first-time teacher were the most illuminating (and, at times, humiliating) I have ever encountered. My second experience was with a supervisor who was the complete antithesis of the ideal manager. Although working for him was a nightmare, I had by then acquired enough management experience to understand his flaws and learn from them. Both these experiences taught me the complexity of managing others in ways that were more powerful than any textbooks. I have come to realize how theories studied in class applied to actual experiences I have had in the working world. I approached my first teaching assignment full of optimism, enthusiasm, and arrogance. I was to conduct a lecture course in business administration, one of the required introductory classes that are fundamental to all studies of the field. I knew my mat
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han I had failed to teach her. Then I began to think about the challenge she represented. I decided to try to get through to her.
For the next class, although I struggled with the decision, I did not prepare handouts. Instead, I started to ask questions. I tried to get my students to think of specific examples that demonstrated the points I needed to make. The process was extremely slow at first. In part, this was the result of my own prejudices: I did not really believe that most of these freshmen had any relevant experiences. However, I began to realize that some had been student leaders, some had coached sports teams, many had worked to put themselves through school. My problem student turned out to be working full-time; her experience provided some outstanding examples of customer relations that illustrated basic principles I had intended to cover during the second half of the course.
This style of teaching was much harder for me than preparing detailed lesson plans and well-structured lectures. I had to make careful notes to make sure certain key points were covered at some point in the process. Some of the examples raised in class were really not relevant to the discussion, and I had to work to keep the dialog
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2778
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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