Keeping a Journal

When you enroll in MGT 6353 - Management of Diversity in Organizations, one of your graded assignments for the semester will be to keep a journal.  It is a good idea to get into the habit of keeping a journal early.  Keeping a journal during your MBA program will assist you in tracking your own personal and professional growth, and may eventually become a career resource for you.

The following are some suggestions for your journal entries.

When you complete a chapter or module in a given class, take a few minutes to write a brief synopsis of what you learned, describe what you thought about it or any reactions you had to it, and speculate on how you might use the information or skill as a professional.

When you complete an assessment exercise--whether it is a graded assignment for one of your classes or a personal inventory survey that you take independently--comment on what the results of the assessment were, whether you agree with the results, and examples of why the assessment is or is not accurate based on your past experience.

If you are part of a student team project, spend a few minutes after each team meeting evaluating your interactions with your teammates and reflecting on your own characteristics or style as they relate to your team experience.  Be honest with yourself about where your strengths lie and where you could improve.  At the end of the team project, write a longer journal entry summarizing the entire experience and describing what you have learned from it.

As you encounter challenges at work which are related to things you are studying in your MBA program, try writing a journal entry in which you describe the work challenge from a third party's perspective, and use the principles you are learning to analyze the situation and propose a resolution.  Applying a case study approach to your own work experiences will not only give you ownership of the education you are receiving, but may also make you more of a resource to coworkers and classmates alike as you bridge the gap between theory and practice.