Skills for Business and Management (Macmillan Study Skills, 76)

Contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter
1: The Distinctive Learning Journey on a Business and Management Degree
	Independent learning
	Time management
	Academic reading
	Academic writing
	Group working
	How to best use this book
	Activity Answers
		Activity 1.1
Part 
I: Self-management
	Chapter 2: Believe in Yourself
		Identifying your unique set of personal capabilities
		The importance of reflection in life, work and study
			Why reflect at all?
			Continuous professional development (CPD)
			Why keep a reflective journal?
			The individual nature of reflection
			How to use your journal
			Overcoming ‘writer’s block’
		Self-efficacy
		Managing the challenging times at university
			Initial self-confidence
			Unfamiliar learning environment
			Disappointing grades
			Cumulative negativity
			Emotional challenges
		Developing success strategies
			Expanding subject knowledge
			Assessment successes
			Peer support
			Growing familiarity
			Ambition and determination
		Self-acceptance
		University support services
	Chapter
3: Effective Time Management
		Weekly and daily scheduling
			Blocking off essential commitments
			Scheduling regular independent learning sessions
		Managing perfectionism
		Overcoming procrastination
			Top tips for overcoming procrastination
		Self-motivation
			Aligning your daily time management to longer-term aspirations
			Applying the Place Mat in your daily life
			Developing achievable ‘to-do’ lists
			Realism
Part 
II: Academic Research
	Chapter
4: Searching for Relevant Texts
		The challenges of independent research
			Time management issues
		Stage 1: establish your reading purpose
		Stage 2: find the texts that directly address your reading purpose
			Starting your research trail with the basic set of core texts
			Developing your research beyond core texts
			Matching different types of sources to business and management subjects
		Library resources
			Sources of factual data
		Activity Answers
			Activity 4.1: Critically analysing an essay question
			Activity 4.2: Choosing texts by their titles
			Activity 4.3: Choosing texts by key extracts
			Activity 4.4: Choosing relevant sources for different business subjects
			Activity 4.5: Matching reading purpose to relevant sources
	Chapter
5: Efficient Reading Strategies
		Stage 3: selective reading to find the relevant ideas within a text
		Reading for note-making
		Researching an assignment question
		Activity Answers
			Activity 5.1: Scan reading to find key points in a journal article
			Activity 5.2: Detailed reading of highlighted points for deeper understanding
Part 
III: Academic Writing
	Chapter 6: Essentials of Academic Writing
		Academic writing style
			Be objective
			Reflecting your own experience
			Be cautious
			Use formal language
			Be clear, specific and concise
		Sentence structure
			Accurate sentence structure
		Paragraph structure
		Essay structure
			Coherence
		Writing conclusions and introductions
		Evaluating and editing your draft writing
			Improving your assignment’s coherence
			Further editing procedures
		Activity Answers
			Activity 6.1: Appropriate sentence length
			Activity 6.2: Shortening sentences
			Activity 6.3: Identifying Subject Verb Object (SVO) structure in sentences
			Activity 6.4: Clear sentence structure with Subject Verb Object
			Activity 6.5: Evaluating paragraph structure
			Paragraph 1
			Paragraph 2
			Activity 6.6: Coherence through paragraphs
	Chapter 7: Understanding Referencing
		How to produce citations (in the Harvard style)
			Starting a sentence with a citation
			Ending a sentence with a citation
			Showing page numbers in a citation
			Citing sources which do not have identified authors
		How to produce references (in the Harvard style)
			Learning how to format your full references
			References or bibliography?
		When to provide citations
		Avoiding plagiarism
		Checking for plagiarism
		Turnitin originality reports
			What does a Turnitin report show?
		Sample Report 1
			Similarity Index
			Sources
			Extract from full essay reproduced in the Turnitin report
			How would a tutor interpret Report 1?
		Sample Report 2
			Similarity Index
			Sources
			Extract from full essay reproduced in the Turnitin report
				Competitive positioning
				Corporate level
			How would a tutor interpret Report 2?
		Activity Answers
			Activity 7.1: Citing ideas from other authors
			Activity 7.2: Avoiding plagiarism
	Chapter 8: Critically Analytical Writing
		What is critical analysis anyway?
		Sample essay
		How is critical thinking useful for your future career?
		Activity Answers
	Chapter 9: Reflective Writing
		What is meant by reflective writing?
			Reflective writing embraces both success and ‘failure’
			The reflective writing style is quite different from traditional academic writing
		How to write reflectively
			The linear approach to reflective writing
			A cyclical approach to reflective writing
		Reflective writing as an employability skill
		Reflecting on personal experiences from a theoretical perspective
			Applying all the principles of reflective writing in a management assignment
		Sample reflective essay
		Activity Answers
			Activity 9.1: Matching reflective prompts and answers
			Activity 9.2: Identifying answers to reflective questions
			Activity 9.3: Using the STAR technique to show positive reflection
			Activity 9.4: In the tutor’s shoes – what’s the grade?
Part 
IV: Communication
	Chapter 10: Getting Started with  Group Work
		Personal responsibility: group work starts with you
		Gathering commitment to a shared goal
			Everyone has a voice
			How to enable everyone to ‘stake their claim’ in the group
		Assigning team roles by personality type
			What does your Myers–Briggs type suggest about your ideal team role?
			How can personality types help your group work?
			Are you the group leader?
		The positive potential of group work
		Activity Answers
			Activity 10.2: Helpful objectives for a first group meeting
	Chapter 11: Managing Challenges in Group Work
		An emotional challenge
		Case study: recognising and managing intercultural conflict
		Empowering yourself to be an effective group member
			Reframe your perceptions of others
			The self-empowerment model in practice
			Possible turnarounds
		Taking responsibility for your experience
			Take charge of the way that you feel, think and act in meetings
			Focus on tangible objectives you would like the group to achieve
			Establish a realistic personal commitment to those group objectives
		Activity Answers
			Activity 11.1: Possible sources of group conflict
			Activity 11.2: Who is responsible for what?
			Activity 11.3: Taking personal responsibility
	Chapter 12: Delivering Effective Presentations
		Prepare for success
			Establish how much information you can present
			Identify a precise focus to your presentation
			Know your topic ‘inside out’
			Rehearse your knowledge of the topic
		Successful performance on the day
			One-minute impact
			Visual
			Vocal
			Verbal
			Be calm
		Activity Answers
			Activity 12.1: Key principles of effective presentations
			Activity 12.2: Defining the presentation focus
			Activity 12.3: Creating impact with presentation slides
			Activity 12.6: Speaking slowly, clearly and emphatically
Part 
V: Personal Development Planning
	Chapter 13: Make the Most of Your Learning Journey
		What do you really want to experience?
			Your primary question
			Articulating your mission
			Well-formed outcomes
		Plan backwards from your goal
		Recognise all that you are
			Strengths
			Worries
			Opportunities
			Tendencies
		Apply your personal SWOT analysis to fulfilling your purpose
			You are already enough (strengths)
			Step-by-step progression (opportunities)
			You’ll see it when you believe it (worries)
			Change what does not work (tendencies)
References
Index