MOST Analysis

Mission Statement

The first stage of the program is to understand the history, current position and future outlook relating to Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD), not just for the organization as a whole, but for each individual department, including: customer service; e-business; finance; globalization; human resources; information technology; legal; management; marketing; production; education and logistics. This will be achieved by implementing a process within each department, enabling the head of that department to conduct a detailed and thorough internal analysis to establish the internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats in relation to Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) and to establish a MOST analysis: Mission; Objectives; Strategies; Tasks, enabling them to be more proactive about the way in which they plan, develop, implement, manage and review Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD), within their department.

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Objectives

01. Obtain a clear understanding of the core objective of Workshop 1. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. Analyse the history of Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Analyse the current position of Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Analyse the future outlook of Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Analyse internal strengths and weaknesses, relating to Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD), within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Analyse external opportunities and threats, relating to Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD), within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Identify and engage up to 10 Key Stakeholders within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
08. Identify a process that would enable your stakeholders to decentralize Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD). Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. Estimate the likely costs and the ongoing financial budget required for this process. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Estimate the likely hours and the ongoing time budget required for this process. Time Allocated: 1 Month

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Strategies

01. Each department head is to personally set aside time to study Workshop 1 content thoroughly.
02. List the key projects that have been undertaken historically within your department and analyse how and if Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) was used and where it was successful.
03. List the key projects that are currently being undertaken within your department and analyse how and if Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) is being used and where it is being successful.
04. List the key projects that are scheduled to be undertaken in the future within your department and analyse how Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) can be used in order to ensure success.
05. Research internal strengths and weaknesses, relating to Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD), within your department.
06. Research external opportunities and threats, relating to Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD), within your department.
07. Review the files and resumes of employees within your department in order to identify those with (GSCD) experience.
08. Research and identify a process that would enable your stakeholders to decentralize Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD).
09. Liaise with the Finance department to evaluate the likely costs and the ongoing financial budget required for this process.
10. Liaise with the Human Resource department to evaluate the likely hours and the ongoing time budget required for this process.

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Tasks

01. Read through the entire workshop content while making notes including: Profile; MOST; Introduction; Executive Summary; Curriculum; Distance Learning; Tutorial Support; How To Study; Preliminary Analysis; Course Manuals; Project Studies; Benefits.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to list and analyse historical projects.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to list and analyse current projects.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to list and analyse future projects.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to research and analyse internal strengths and weaknesses, relating to Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD), within your department.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to research and analyse external opportunities and threats, relating to Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD), within your department.
07. Set up interviews with employees within your department in order to identify those with a collaborative nature.
08. Implement a process that will enable your stakeholders to decentralize Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD).
09. Set up an appointment with the Finance department to evaluate the likely costs and the ongoing financial budget required for this process.
10. Set up appointment with Human Resource department to evaluate the likely hours and the ongoing time budget required for this process.

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Workshop Introduction

Workshop Objective

The first stage of the program is to understand the history, current position and future outlook relating to Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD), not just for the organization as a whole, but for each individual department, including: customer service; e-business; finance; globalization; human resources; information technology; legal; management; marketing; production; education and logistics. This will be achieved by implementing a process within each department, enabling the head of that department to conduct a detailed and thorough internal analysis to establish the internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats in relation to Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) and to establish a MOST analysis: Mission; Objectives; Strategies; Tasks, enabling them to be more proactive about the way in which they plan, develop, implement, manage and review (GSCD), within their department.

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Global Supply-Chain – The impact of globalization upon the supply-chain

The globalization of business is the best thing to happen to supply chain management (SCM) in the last 30 years. This seemingly bold statement is made not because globalization has made SCM any easier quite the contrary. Driven by overwhelming market forces, globalization has forced countries and companies to become more efficient, creating the infrastructure and competitive advantage necessary to survive the early rounds of a brawl that will undoubtedly go beyond the last bell. Unfortunately, whether one is in favor of or against globalization is irrelevant for purposes of this discussion. Although both sides of the globalization debate have valid points, the fact is that it will continue. Reality dictates that if companies intend to not just survive but prosper in a hyper-competitive environment, they would be well advised to acknowledge the complex nature of the terrain in which they find themselves deployed. What is relevant to this discussion, however, is a basic understanding of what globalization is and its significance to the field of SCM. Globalization assumes many faces, but in the realm of economic development it revolves around the nurturing of commerce through the removal of both tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. Driven mainly by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), countries that embrace globalization allow access to their markets through lower tariffs while seeking reciprocal business opportunities in member countries around the world.

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Globalization has created both opportunities and risks for companies, as the more connected economic environment has brought more customers and new markets whereas also bought larger extent of competitors. Globalization process along with the emerging of new markets for goods and service, new resources and supplier, and new pools of labor creates opportunities to companies. The more collaborative environment makes it possible for companies to reduce cost and focusing on these core competencies to participate more profitably in the global trade. Accompanied with the opportunities, challenges regard to supply chain also presented with the globalization. The global marketplace has made supply and demand more volatile and hard to forecast as there is a greater reliance on different companies spread over great distances. The global network made the supply chain more complex as the increased number of suppliers, customers and plants spread throughout the world. This can make it difficult for managers to maintain an adequate level of control over their operations. There is also increased competition from low cost products from overseas markets. Expanded market also means a broader range of competitors, companies devote themselves to explore more efficient technologies, strategies to provide better quality products, faster delivery service, and lower cost in order to maintain their comparative advantages in the global competition. Decreased number of information is another factor that may undermine the global supply chain. With large number of partners and franchises, decisions are difficult to be made with full information and therefore brings risk to the supply chain. The uncertainty accompanied with the globalization process, companies are seeking for new methods and strategies to mitigate the risk and take control over the uncertainty factors. Have a better understanding of the risks and prepare for an plan to response to the issues coming out is the way to enhance the ability of companies to stand against the challenges.

“Being Successful Means Managing Uncertainty. How will you face so many uncertainties and potential challenges? You certainly can’t control all external forces (political, natural disasters, energy costs, counterfeiting, and others), but you can start by making SCRM an integral part of your organization’s strategic planning process and redefining your internal practices and processes. As you plan for the future and build on strengths, make sure you understand the risks and threats that could cause you to lose competitive advantage. All of your executives need to be involved in this process. In addition, you will need an emergency plan for new external or internal threats. A proper SCRM plan is not about building fear in the organization, but rather about bringing peace of mind. Your organization will have taken the time to understand what is important and how to protect it, should a crisis happen. This will ultimately make your organization stronger and ready to take advantage of situations that cause others to flounder.”

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Global Supply-Chain – Methodology

Supply Chain Development and Management, along with the closely related subject matter of logistics are the cornerstones of a competitive global corporate strategy, increased market share and amplification of stake holder value. Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) provides in Phase I a framework for your understanding of supply chain development and management and its related components e.g. comprehensive introduction to supply chain management, an overview of all of the important dimensions logistics and their peculiar relationship to both supply chain management and its relevance to global trade strategy. Phase II is related to is related to strategic factors, supply chain relationships and third party logistics services, performance metrics and financial analysis, along with an emphasis on information systems and the discipline they create. Phase III addresses the key process steps within supply chain fulfillment e.g. order management and customer service, inventory management, transportation and distribution. Phase IV delves into the subject topic area of supply chain planning, sourcing and operations, tools needed to design, develop and refine a supply chain network, alongside of procurement and strategic vendor relationships. Phase V covers the areas enveloped by major macro industry trends that will condition the future of logistics and supply management as well as specific strategies that will enable sustained competitive strength.

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Global Supply-Chain Development (GSCD)

Abstract.

To be competitive in today’s global marketplace, and to effectively serve global operations, supply chains must also be “world class”. This paper provides a step-by-step approach to global supply chain development, contrasts global to domestic development, and identifies challenges, complexities, and strategies for building multi-national supply chains.

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Domestic vs. Global Supply Chains

Current State of Global Supply Chain Activities

Today top management of major corporations realize that good management of supply chains (including purchasing, finance, materials management, transportation and logistics management, quality management, information technology and time management) can make major contributions to the bottom line and help their organizations implement strategic initiatives and achieve overall goals. As a result of developments in communication and transportation, globalization is now accepted as a “way of life,” the normal way of doing business. In many, if not most industries, companies must adopt a global view of their operations in order to survive. Unfortunately, many corporations are still stuck in the domestic paradigm and are not aware of, or taking advantage of improvements and benefits that could come from an optimal global supply chain.

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Changing World Situation, Growing Need for Global Supply Chains

Some changes that are underway and moving swiftly that affect globalization of supply chains include: more investment by U.S. industries in non-U.S. areas, increased international spending activity by major U.S. corporations, mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures involving companies from different countries linking more organizations across the globe, and more organizations are making purchasing and supply decisions based on total cost of ownership and value added. Many buying and selling markets are worldwide, creating the need for optimized, global supply chains. Improvements in transportation and communication technology have made the creation and management of global supply chains efficient and effective to serve either domestic or worldwide requirements.

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Corporations seek to apply technology and immediately obtain returns from technological investment before obsolescence occurs. Information technologies have enabled the aggregation of category spend across organizational business units around the world, thereby enabling strategic sourcing, strategic cost management and “supply-demand optimization. This development has facilitated cross-functional, cross-organizational approaches to sourcing activities, enabling total cost savings and other key synergies across the supply chain to be realized. Firms that have invested in ERP technology such as SAP, Oracle, J. D. Edwards, Ariba, etc. want to leverage their return on this investment. Utilizing this type of technology to optimize global operations and to expand and link systems and applications across business units worldwide provides increased capability to establish and manage global supply chains. Growing participation by companies in buying and selling consortiums is also impacting global purchasing and supply chain activity. Such arrangements intensify the need to gain competitive advantage vs. competitors’ supply chains.

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Global Supply Chain Objectives

Overall Objective of Global Supply Chains

Have in place the global supply chain configuration that results in meeting or exceeding worldwide customer (internal and/or external) expectations at the lowest strategic cost.

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Specific Objectives and Expectations of Global Supply Chains

In general the objectives of global supply chains are the same as domestic supply chains. The main differences are the scope of the supply chain and the number and types of participants that may be present: Leverage spend (across business units and geographic boundaries); Align Incentives for integration of activities (buyers, suppliers, end-users) to support organizational goals and strategies; Optimize supply chain operations (no. of members, capabilities, costs); Reduce inventories across the chain; Reduce all costs (item costs and supply chain operational costs); Assurance of supply of right quality items for production and support activities; Have well designed investment recovery processes; Critical cycle time improvements; Address local content and local business development goals.

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Global Complexities

Sourcing in multiple countries brings with it a number of considerations not encountered domestically. Some of the complexities include: Currency exchange and risk; Countertrade opportunities and requirements; Varying laws and jurisdictional questions; Cultural differences; Language differences; Labor and training availability, practices, laws, regulations; Transportation, packing, shipping, storing, import, export, customs; Security: materials, products, personnel, intellectual property.

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Challenges and Barriers to Building Global Supply Chains

In the varying environments encountered internationally, there are a number of challenges and barriers involved in building global supply chains. Many of these are rarely if ever a concern with domestic supply chains. Some of these include: Uncertain political stability, different government agendas; Lack of infrastructure in some countries (roads, port facilities, trained labor, utilities, communications); Lack of critical market mass in particular countries; High transaction costs due to varying business environments; Requirements to use in-country agents or partners and local content requirements; Lack of potential for repeat purchases, e.g. in project situations; Slower adoption of e-business than in the domestic market; No or limited free trade zone availability; Partner/contract limitations requiring bidding for all procurement activities and inhibiting alliance-building; High logistics and transportation costs; Different time zones (communication difficulties); Financial risks are higher, e.g., potential for war, terrorism, government changes; The nature of global activity (may be fragmented and/or scattered); Long/unpredictable supplier lead times; Protectionism (tariffs, duties, quotas, inspections); Limited number of qualified global suppliers; Difficult to link global project work to “run and maintain” global activities; Limited availability of trained personnel for purchasing or supply management positions; Supply chain management skill gaps and training requirements need to be addressed.

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Executive Summary

General Approach to Global Supply Chain Management

Developing Global Supply Chains

The development of global supply chains requires the same information as the development of domestic supply chains but, in addition, also requires additional information on subjects that include: international logistics, laws, customs, culture, ethics, language, politics, governments, and currency. Team approaches should be used for developing global supply chains, include on teams all departments or organizations who will be affected by the supply chain. What, when, and where items are required from the supply chain must be well-defined. Required items must also be completely specified and quantity demand forecasts prepared to guide potential supply chain members. Sources of potential supply chain members include: international expansion of domestic suppliers, current or potential suppliers in the target country or country of international operations, current or potential suppliers in third countries. Supplier qualification evaluations must include ability to conduct international operations and to meet international requirements in addition to the usual domestic considerations. Think “global” and act “local” as required. The imperative of adopting a “glocality” strategy requires balancing standardization of souring, processes and tools with the needs for customization.

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Implementing Global Supply Chains

After identification of supply chain partners, an implementation team should be identified and used to plan and conduct the actual implementation of supply chain operations. Processes and procedures need to be documented in detail and tested or piloted before full implementation. Training for all participants in new or revised procedures and processes must not be overlooked. Metrics for administration and evaluation of the operation of the supply chain must be identified and agreed upon by the members of the supply chain. A plan and schedule for implementation and subsequent administration and evaluation of supply chain activities and operations must be developed by the implementation team.

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Maintaining Global Supply Chains

Regular evaluation using agreed-upon metrics followed by corrective action as necessary will help assure that expected benefits will be achieved. A program of continuous improvement review will assure that the supply chain remains effective and efficient in achieving its goals.

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Step by Step Approach for Developing Global Supply Chains, A “best practice” Framework

1. Secure a top-level organizational mandate which prioritizes and supports SCM

2. Form a cross-functional global supply chain development team: Include all affected parties, internal and external; The team composition may change as development and implementation proceeds.

3. Identify needs and opportunities for supply chain globalization: Determine the requirements your supply chain must meet; Commodities, materials, services required; Dollar value of materials and services procured or to be procured; Importance of commodities, materials, and services to achievement of company strategic objectives; Performance metrics for qualification and evaluation of suppliers; A center of excellence comparison to industry best practices; Determine the current status of your supply chain “as is”; Existing suppliers of materials and services; Customers (who, where, what products) o Commodity markets (major markets procured from); Current performance, problem areas; Competitiveness (cost, quality, delivery, responsiveness); “Fit” of your current supply chain with your operational requirements; When determining supply chain requirements and current status, use a framework such as the iSource Global Enabled Supply Chain Map (iSource Business, August-September, 2002). The main components of this particular framework include the following items: Order/Demand capture (What materials/services are needed?); Supply chain planning; Supply chain event management; Sourcing (Where can we get what is needed?); Trading exchanges; Commodity team and supplier collaboration; Spend analytics and supply strategy; Content management; Auctions; Procurement (How to purchase needed requirements); Supplier relationship management; Content management; Marketplaces; Fulfillment (Order/delivery status); Order management; Call center operations; Sales and marketing support; Warehousing, inventory management and deployment; Logistics (What/when/where/how much/cycle time management); Inventory management in motion or at rest; Physical management of movement of goods and resources; Transportation; Payment (How/when to pay); Electronic funds transfer; Procurement cards; Customer Relationship Management; Content management; Channel management and customer analytics; Reverse logistics/material and/or merchandise returns; Partnership/alliance considerations All of these are operational dimensions of supply chains which must be identified, considered, and included in any determination of requirements and assessment of current status of supply chains.

4. Determine commodity/service priorities for globalization consideration based on needs and opportunities.

5. Identify potential markets and suppliers and compare to “as is” markets, suppliers, and supply chain arrangements, operations, and results.

6. Evaluate/qualify markets and suppliers, identify supplier pool (determine best ones based on likely total cost of ownership (TCO), and best potential to meet or exceed expectations and requirements).

7. Determine selection process for suppliers, e.g. request for proposal (RFP), bid invitation, point system, past performance, references, reverse auction, negotiation, etc.

8. Select suppliers or confirm current suppliers; formalize agreements with suppliers.

9. Implement agreements with key metrics established.

10. Monitor, evaluate, review, and revise as needed.

11. Capture key cost savings, synergies and cycle time improvements.

12. Set up a continuous mechanism to communicate benefits to appropriate stakeholders.

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Strategies and Tactics

Some strategies that are useful in building global supply chains include: optimize the size (determine the best number of suppliers to optimize cost and performance) of the supply base; search globally for potential suppliers; use strategic supplier alliances; conduct total cost of ownership analysis on all significant buys; use suppliers that practice total quality management; use integrated supply management as a means of increasing value while reducing cost and complexity of the supply chain; conduct reverse auctions to determine price/cost reduction potential; integrate local business development and local content activities into your strategy. Tactics that are useful in building global supply chains include: synchronize information and material flows, i.e. match the information with the material flows to improve ability to monitor supply chain activity and performance; rationalize the supply base (reduce to the optimum number of suppliers); provide suppliers with accurate forecasts of demand so they can provide the required supply at the times required and at the lowest total cost; determine performance objectives for supply chains and develop metrics and measurements to determine how well they are being met; minimize inventory investment by using supplier managed inventories or just-in-time with electronic linkages to communicate and release.

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Some Key Enablers for Building Global Supply Chains

Top management vision with proactive, visible support; Collateral change-management initiatives; Organizational procurement effort moderately or highly centralized to maximize leverage of spend; Safety programs are effectively interwoven into all operational activities; A diffusion of information systems that capture detailed spending activities by commodity, business unit, supplier, and geographical area or country; Mutual mentoring/problem solving/synergy among members of the supply chain (the supply chain is assembled by utilizing the core competencies of each member); Responding to host country’s interests without damaging supply chains; Organization has a structured and active strategic sourcing process; The organization’s culture allows for a total cost of ownership philosophy; Quality certifications can be captured for key global suppliers; Reporting capabilities for performance measurement of supply chain activities and results; Supply chain member integration of quality and spend data, organized by company, business unit, geography, commodity or service category, and supplier; Facilitated information links between and within firms; Participants in the supply chain have a “boundary-spanning” perspective (as opposed to narrow or limited vision of business processes); Building persuasive business cases that demonstrate the new way to do business, i.e. building effective supply chains is a compelling economic issue that will improve the bottom line of business units and the overall organization; Training programs are designed and implemented to update SCM skill sets.

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Elements of Total Cost for International Sourcing

Base price; Tooling costs; Packaging; Escalation; Transportation; Customs duty/tariffs; Insurance premiums; Payment terms and fees for payment transactions; Documentation fees; Port storage fees; Port, terminal, and handling fees; Customs broker fees; Taxes; Communication costs; Travel costs; Inventory carrying costs; Speed of implementation of advantageous sourcing options and SCM savings programs.

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In summary, effective development of global supply chains is focused on redefining and adapting organizational strategies to provide competitive advantage. All of these SCM design efforts should be undertaken within the context of the organization’s corporate DNA. Global SCM strategies should address stakeholder value, align with business unit objectives, and enhance safety, diversity, local business development and customer service needs. Change management should support such efforts. The responsiveness of your supply chains to all of these elements can make them “world class.”

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Curriculum

Internal Analysis – Workshop 1

1. Part 1 Customer Services
2. Part 2 E-Business
3. Part 3 Finance
4. Part 4 Globalization
5. Part 5 Human Resources
6. Part 6 Information Technology
7. Part 7 Legal
8. Part 8 Management
9. Part 9 Marketing
10. Part 10 Production
11. Part 11 Education
12. Part 12 Logistics

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Distance Learning

Introduction

Welcome to Appleton Greene and thank you for enrolling on the Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) corporate training program. You will be learning through our unique facilitation via distance-learning method, which will enable you to practically implement everything that you learn academically. The methods and materials used in your program have been designed and developed to ensure that you derive the maximum benefits and enjoyment possible. We hope that you find the program challenging and fun to do. However, if you have never been a distance-learner before, you may be experiencing some trepidation at the task before you. So we will get you started by giving you some basic information and guidance on how you can make the best use of the modules, how you should manage the materials and what you should be doing as you work through them. This guide is designed to point you in the right direction and help you to become an effective distance-learner. Take a few hours or so to study this guide and your guide to tutorial support for students, while making notes, before you start to study in earnest.

Study environment

You will need to locate a quiet and private place to study, preferably a room where you can easily be isolated from external disturbances or distractions. Make sure the room is well-lit and incorporates a relaxed, pleasant feel. If you can spoil yourself within your study environment, you will have much more of a chance to ensure that you are always in the right frame of mind when you do devote time to study. For example, a nice fire, the ability to play soft soothing background music, soft but effective lighting, perhaps a nice view if possible and a good size desk with a comfortable chair. Make sure that your family know when you are studying and understand your study rules. Your study environment is very important. The ideal situation, if at all possible, is to have a separate study, which can be devoted to you. If this is not possible then you will need to pay a lot more attention to developing and managing your study schedule, because it will affect other people as well as yourself. The better your study environment, the more productive you will be.

Study tools & rules

Try and make sure that your study tools are sufficient and in good working order. You will need to have access to a computer, scanner and printer, with access to the internet. You will need a very comfortable chair, which supports your lower back, and you will need a good filing system. It can be very frustrating if you are spending valuable study time trying to fix study tools that are unreliable, or unsuitable for the task. Make sure that your study tools are up to date. You will also need to consider some study rules. Some of these rules will apply to you and will be intended to help you to be more disciplined about when and how you study. This distance-learning guide will help you and after you have read it you can put some thought into what your study rules should be. You will also need to negotiate some study rules for your family, friends or anyone who lives with you. They too will need to be disciplined in order to ensure that they can support you while you study. It is important to ensure that your family and friends are an integral part of your study team. Having their support and encouragement can prove to be a crucial contribution to your successful completion of the program. Involve them in as much as you can.

Successful distance-learning

Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes or workshops, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. But unlike traditional internal training courses, it is the student’s responsibility, with a distance-learning program, to ensure that they manage their own study contribution. This requires strong self-discipline and self-motivation skills and there must be a clear will to succeed. Those students who are used to managing themselves, are good at managing others and who enjoy working in isolation, are more likely to be good distance-learners. It is also important to be aware of the main reasons why you are studying and of the main objectives that you are hoping to achieve as a result. You will need to remind yourself of these objectives at times when you need to motivate yourself. Never lose sight of your long-term goals and your short-term objectives. There is nobody available here to pamper you, or to look after you, or to spoon-feed you with information, so you will need to find ways to encourage and appreciate yourself while you are studying. Make sure that you chart your study progress, so that you can be sure of your achievements and re-evaluate your goals and objectives regularly.

Self-assessment

Appleton Greene training programs are in all cases post-graduate programs. Consequently, you should already have obtained a business-related degree and be an experienced learner. You should therefore already be aware of your study strengths and weaknesses. For example, which time of the day are you at your most productive? Are you a lark or an owl? What study methods do you respond to the most? Are you a consistent learner? How do you discipline yourself? How do you ensure that you enjoy yourself while studying? It is important to understand yourself as a learner and so some self-assessment early on will be necessary if you are to apply yourself correctly. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself as a student. List your internal strengths and weaknesses as a student and your external opportunities and threats. This will help you later on when you are creating a study plan. You can then incorporate features within your study plan that can ensure that you are playing to your strengths, while compensating for your weaknesses. You can also ensure that you make the most of your opportunities, while avoiding the potential threats to your success.

Accepting responsibility as a student

Training programs invariably require a significant investment, both in terms of what they cost and in the time that you need to contribute to study and the responsibility for successful completion of training programs rests entirely with the student. This is never more apparent than when a student is learning via distance-learning. Accepting responsibility as a student is an important step towards ensuring that you can successfully complete your training program. It is easy to instantly blame other people or factors when things go wrong. But the fact of the matter is that if a failure is your failure, then you have the power to do something about it, it is entirely in your own hands. If it is always someone else’s failure, then you are powerless to do anything about it. All students study in entirely different ways, this is because we are all individuals and what is right for one student, is not necessarily right for another. In order to succeed, you will have to accept personal responsibility for finding a way to plan, implement and manage a personal study plan that works for you. If you do not succeed, you only have yourself to blame.

Planning

By far the most critical contribution to stress, is the feeling of not being in control. In the absence of planning we tend to be reactive and can stumble from pillar to post in the hope that things will turn out fine in the end. Invariably they don’t! In order to be in control, we need to have firm ideas about how and when we want to do things. We also need to consider as many possible eventualities as we can, so that we are prepared for them when they happen. Prescriptive Change, is far easier to manage and control, than Emergent Change. The same is true with distance-learning. It is much easier and much more enjoyable, if you feel that you are in control and that things are going to plan. Even when things do go wrong, you are prepared for them and can act accordingly without any unnecessary stress. It is important therefore that you do take time to plan your studies properly.

Management

Once you have developed a clear study plan, it is of equal importance to ensure that you manage the implementation of it. Most of us usually enjoy planning, but it is usually during implementation when things go wrong. Targets are not met and we do not understand why. Sometimes we do not even know if targets are being met. It is not enough for us to conclude that the study plan just failed. If it is failing, you will need to understand what you can do about it. Similarly if your study plan is succeeding, it is still important to understand why, so that you can improve upon your success. You therefore need to have guidelines for self-assessment so that you can be consistent with performance improvement throughout the program. If you manage things correctly, then your performance should constantly improve throughout the program.

Study objectives & tasks

The first place to start is developing your program objectives. These should feature your reasons for undertaking the training program in order of priority. Keep them succinct and to the point in order to avoid confusion. Do not just write the first things that come into your head because they are likely to be too similar to each other. Make a list of possible departmental headings, such as: Customer Service; E-business; Finance; Globalization; Human Resources; Technology; Legal; Management; Marketing and Production. Then brainstorm for ideas by listing as many things that you want to achieve under each heading and later re-arrange these things in order of priority. Finally, select the top item from each department heading and choose these as your program objectives. Try and restrict yourself to five because it will enable you to focus clearly. It is likely that the other things that you listed will be achieved if each of the top objectives are achieved. If this does not prove to be the case, then simply work through the process again.

Study forecast

As a guide, the Appleton Greene Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) corporate training program should take 12-18 months to complete, depending upon your availability and current commitments. The reason why there is such a variance in time estimates is because every student is an individual, with differing productivity levels and different commitments. These differentiation’s are then exaggerated by the fact that this is a distance-learning program, which incorporates the practical integration of academic theory as an as a part of the training program. Consequently all of the project studies are real, which means that important decisions and compromises need to be made. You will want to get things right and will need to be patient with your expectations in order to ensure that they are. We would always recommend that you are prudent with your own task and time forecasts, but you still need to develop them and have a clear indication of what are realistic expectations in your case. With reference to your time planning: consider the time that you can realistically dedicate towards study with the program every week; calculate how long it should take you to complete the program, using the guidelines featured here; then break the program down into logical modules and allocate a suitable proportion of time to each of them, these will be your milestones; you can create a time plan by using a spreadsheet on your computer, or a personal organizer such as MS Outlook, you could also use a financial forecasting software; break your time forecasts down into manageable chunks of time, the more specific you can be, the more productive and accurate your time management will be; finally, use formulas where possible to do your time calculations for you, because this will help later on when your forecasts need to change in line with actual performance. With reference to your task planning: refer to your list of tasks that need to be undertaken in order to achieve your program objectives; with reference to your time plan, calculate when each task should be implemented; remember that you are not estimating when your objectives will be achieved, but when you will need to focus upon implementing the corresponding tasks; you also need to ensure that each task is implemented in conjunction with the associated training modules which are relevant; then break each single task down into a list of specific to do’s, say approximately ten to do’s for each task and enter these into your study plan; once again you could use MS Outlook to incorporate both your time and task planning and this could constitute your study plan; you could also use a project management software like MS Project. You should now have a clear and realistic forecast detailing when you can expect to be able to do something about undertaking the tasks to achieve your program objectives.

Performance management

It is one thing to develop your study forecast, it is quite another to monitor your progress. Ultimately it is less important whether you achieve your original study forecast and more important that you update it so that it constantly remains realistic in line with your performance. As you begin to work through the program, you will begin to have more of an idea about your own personal performance and productivity levels as a distance-learner. Once you have completed your first study module, you should re-evaluate your study forecast for both time and tasks, so that they reflect your actual performance level achieved. In order to achieve this you must first time yourself while training by using an alarm clock. Set the alarm for hourly intervals and make a note of how far you have come within that time. You can then make a note of your actual performance on your study plan and then compare your performance against your forecast. Then consider the reasons that have contributed towards your performance level, whether they are positive or negative and make a considered adjustment to your future forecasts as a result. Given time, you should start achieving your forecasts regularly.

With reference to time management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual time taken in your study plan; consider your successes with time-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; consider your failures with time-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to time planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your time expectations. You need to be consistent with your time management, otherwise you will never complete your studies. This will either be because you are not contributing enough time to your studies, or you will become less efficient with the time that you do allocate to your studies. Remember, if you are not in control of your studies, they can just become yet another cause of stress for you.

With reference to your task management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual tasks that you have undertaken in your study plan; consider your successes with task-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case; take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; consider your failures with task-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to task planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your task expectations. You need to be consistent with your task management, otherwise you will never know whether you are achieving your program objectives or not.

Keeping in touch

You will have access to qualified and experienced professors and tutors who are responsible for providing tutorial support for your particular training program. So don’t be shy about letting them know how you are getting on. We keep electronic records of all tutorial support emails so that professors and tutors can review previous correspondence before considering an individual response. It also means that there is a record of all communications between you and your professors and tutors and this helps to avoid any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation. If you have a problem relating to the program, share it with them via email. It is likely that they have come across the same problem before and are usually able to make helpful suggestions and steer you in the right direction. To learn more about when and how to use tutorial support, please refer to the Tutorial Support section of this student information guide. This will help you to ensure that you are making the most of tutorial support that is available to you and will ultimately contribute towards your success and enjoyment with your training program.

Work colleagues and family

You should certainly discuss your program study progress with your colleagues, friends and your family. Appleton Greene training programs are very practical. They require you to seek information from other people, to plan, develop and implement processes with other people and to achieve feedback from other people in relation to viability and productivity. You will therefore have plenty of opportunities to test your ideas and enlist the views of others. People tend to be sympathetic towards distance-learners, so don’t bottle it all up in yourself. Get out there and share it! It is also likely that your family and colleagues are going to benefit from your labors with the program, so they are likely to be much more interested in being involved than you might think. Be bold about delegating work to those who might benefit themselves. This is a great way to achieve understanding and commitment from people who you may later rely upon for process implementation. Share your experiences with your friends and family.

Making it relevant

The key to successful learning is to make it relevant to your own individual circumstances. At all times you should be trying to make bridges between the content of the program and your own situation. Whether you achieve this through quiet reflection or through interactive discussion with your colleagues, client partners or your family, remember that it is the most important and rewarding aspect of translating your studies into real self-improvement. You should be clear about how you want the program to benefit you. This involves setting clear study objectives in relation to the content of the course in terms of understanding, concepts, completing research or reviewing activities and relating the content of the modules to your own situation. Your objectives may understandably change as you work through the program, in which case you should enter the revised objectives on your study plan so that you have a permanent reminder of what you are trying to achieve, when and why.

Distance-learning check-list

Prepare your study environment, your study tools and rules.
Undertake detailed self-assessment in terms of your ability as a learner.
Create a format for your study plan.
Consider your study objectives and tasks.
Create a study forecast.
Assess your study performance.
Re-evaluate your study forecast.
Be consistent when managing your study plan.
Use your Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) for tutorial support.
Make sure you keep in touch with those around you.

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Tutorial Support

Programs

Appleton Greene uses standard and bespoke corporate training programs as vessels to transfer business process improvement knowledge into the heart of our clients’ organizations. Each individual program focuses upon the implementation of a specific business process, which enables clients to easily quantify their return on investment. There are hundreds of established Appleton Greene corporate training products now available to clients within customer services, e-business, finance, globalization, human resources, information technology, legal, management, marketing and production. It does not matter whether a client’s employees are located within one office, or an unlimited number of international offices, we can still bring them together to learn and implement specific business processes collectively. Our approach to global localization enables us to provide clients with a truly international service with that all important personal touch. Appleton Greene corporate training programs can be provided virtually or locally and they are all unique in that they individually focus upon a specific business function. They are implemented over a sustainable period of time and professional support is consistently provided by qualified learning providers and specialist consultants.

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Support available

You will have a designated Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and