Business and Management - OU Community Online

Martin Friel, OU Regional Manager in Scotland, was in the Shetland Islands to celebrate with nine successful Shetland Social Work students who've just completed the business and management course, B121 Managing in the workplace.

The students all work for the Shetland Islands Council, which supported them through the course. The students spoke enthusiastically of how the module helped them enhance their performance in the workplace, a sentiment that was echoed by the council, which is already sponsoring a second cohort, with a third group planned to study the course in May.

Watching them receive their certificates were the students’ line managers as well as Christine Ferguson, Director of Community Care Services, and Gail Bray, Training Manager.  The students were also joined by their families to celebrate the occasion.  Their success will also be shared in The Shetland Times.

Martin Friel is also Course Chair of B121 Managing in the workplace.  It is an AP(E)L module which awards 30 points of Level 1 (NQF Level 4 SQF Level 7) credit to students who have an NVQ3 or equivalent (this equivalent may even be experiential).

Positive psychology is the scientific study of the positive aspects of human life, such as happiness, confidence and achievement; it focuses on understanding and promoting what makes life worth living rather than on treating mental illness.

Bridget is one of the first qualified positive psychologists to practice in Europe and her latest book is full of straightforward advice, case studies and step-by-step instructions to making your life even better.

Speaking to Platform at a time when many of us are thinking about New Year’s resolutions and developing good habits, Bridget offers readers some helpful pointers, based on some of the latest research in positive psychology:

Beyond SMART: 3 Top Tips for Successful Goal-Setting and Achievement
 

Focus on creating approach goals

According to psychology research, avoidance goals (those with negative outcomes which we work to avoid) are stressful because constantly monitoring negative possibilities drains our energy and enjoyment, eventually taking its toll on our well-being. On the other hand if we set approach goals i.e. those with positive outcomes which we work towards, our focus is on achieving the presence of something positive, which is more energizing and enjoyable. According to psychologists this ultimately leads to greater well-being too.

Increase your intrinsic motivation

Being intrinsically motivated (i.e. doing something because you want to, not because you have to) is an essential part of goal achievement. Intrinsic motivation can be increased by ensuring that, in identifying and pursuing your goal, three basic psychological needs are met:  i) control, ii) competence and iii) connection. If your goal is not freely chosen, how might you change it so that you increase the amount of control that you have?  To increase your level of competence, why not seek regular and constructive feedback on your performance from a trusted friend, colleague or mentor? And how might you ensure that you have positive support from those around you in achieving your goal?

Develop your self-control and commitment

Fortunately for us, self-control is like a muscle – the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. This means that being more disciplined in one domain of your life can help you develop greater self-control in other areas. The key to self-control is to try to create new habits which simply become part of your day-to-day routine; after a while you don’t need much self-control at all.

Research into goal commitment suggests that it makes a difference to your self-motivation whether you focus on the progress you’ve already made, or whether you focus on the things that you have left to achieve. If you are fully committed to your goal, you can maintain your self-motivation by focusing on what you have left to do. But if your commitment is less than 10 out of 10, you can increase your self-motivation by focusing on what you have already accomplished.

Finally, remember that not all goals are equal in the well-being stakes: make sure yours are intrinsic, congruent and in harmony with each other.

To find out more about Bridget’s work or to order her book, visit her website.

For your chance to win a copy of Bridget's book, see our competition. Share your goal for 2012 and be in with a chance of winning...

The impact of the recent recession on the sales performance of small and medium-sized companies was more sudden and severe than that experienced in the early 1990s, but the drop in employment levels has been less dramatic. 

This is according to the Quarterly Survey of Small Business in Britain, produced by The Open University Business School with support from ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).

The report shows the smallest firms have suffered the most from the effects of the recession. For fuller summary see here.

In this short piece Kim Tasso, a Legal Consultant and a successful Open University MBA Alumnus, shares her reasons for blogging. She has blogged since 2000. She offers eight good reasons to do so:

1. You write about something that interests you. So you blog for the intrinsic pleasure of it.
2. To share ‘profound thoughts’.
3. To share the profound thoughts of a colleague.
4. It’s easy to do. Self-publishing has come of age.
5. Social media lets you get your message out to a huge network.
6. Easily shared content starts a conversation.
7. You connect with new people.
8. It helps with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

In a mind-map I stretch this to 24 reasons to blog. I’ve added more, though the three most important to me are: for the fun of it, to share knowledge and to converse with like-minds.

This webinar is aimed at Human Resources professionals and will explore what Distributed Leadership can achieve within an organisation, and also the challenges in developing people to become Distributed Leaders. 

Presenters are Richard Holti , the OU's senior lecturer in organisational change and development, and Francis Cattermole, lecturer in professional development.

More details on the hour long event (and signup information for those able to attend) can be found here.

Watch the videos below to see how three OU Business School MBA graduates have used their learning, their talents and their passions to develop the career they wanted.

Meet Phil Hawthorn who blends business with cookery through leadership and teamwork, Peter Cook, the Rock'n'roll Business Guru (read interview here), and Kim Tasso, an acclaimed writer who is also a consultant specialising in the field of professional services strategic management and marketing. 

You can learn more about the Open University MBA here.