Personal Responsibility
Personal Responsibility
Fred Johnson
GEN/200
December 9, 2010
Teacher Name
Personal Responsibility
In today’s academic setting, teamwork is an important skill for students to learn. Students work together on learning teams, and complete team assignments. Deciding how to approach assignments is left completely up to the team. How will the team structure itself, how work will be divided, and who will lead, are important decisions a learning team must make. To be successful in these learning teams, a student must develop the skills and habits that make people valuable team members. Taking personal responsibility for learning these new skills will lead students to educational success. The purpose of this essay is to help the reader explore the relationship between personal responsibility and educational success in a team environment. This paper will also explore how personal responsibility and teamwork skills extend, beyond school, into the professional world. People in a team environment mistakenly believe they can blame others for their failures. Although it is true that teams depend on their members to succeed, it is important for team members to take personal responsibility for their success. Personal responsibility means self-determination, hard work, and contributing in a team environment. Even though many colleges stress the importance of learning in teams, personal responsibility is the foundation of educational success because it is each person’s responsibility to learn the required material, and everyone must complete his or her assigned coursework. A common misperception is that the business community values the independent maverick type of person. The media often portrays the leaders of top companies this way. A stronger case exists for the idea that the best executives are those who build the best teams. According to a questionnaire, responded to by 57 executives, teamwork is among the top 10 soft skills required for
Fred Johnson
GEN/200
December 9, 2010
Teacher Name
Personal Responsibility
In today’s academic setting, teamwork is an important skill for students to learn. Students work together on learning teams, and complete team assignments. Deciding how to approach assignments is left completely up to the team. How will the team structure itself, how work will be divided, and who will lead, are important decisions a learning team must make. To be successful in these learning teams, a student must develop the skills and habits that make people valuable team members. Taking personal responsibility for learning these new skills will lead students to educational success. The purpose of this essay is to help the reader explore the relationship between personal responsibility and educational success in a team environment. This paper will also explore how personal responsibility and teamwork skills extend, beyond school, into the professional world. People in a team environment mistakenly believe they can blame others for their failures. Although it is true that teams depend on their members to succeed, it is important for team members to take personal responsibility for their success. Personal responsibility means self-determination, hard work, and contributing in a team environment. Even though many colleges stress the importance of learning in teams, personal responsibility is the foundation of educational success because it is each person’s responsibility to learn the required material, and everyone must complete his or her assigned coursework. A common misperception is that the business community values the independent maverick type of person. The media often portrays the leaders of top companies this way. A stronger case exists for the idea that the best executives are those who build the best teams. According to a questionnaire, responded to by 57 executives, teamwork is among the top 10 soft skills required for
References: Ellis, D. (2011). Becoming a master Student (13th ed.). Retrieved from The University of phoenix eBook Collection database. This is our online textbook for Gen/200. This book is designed to help students become familiar with the skills required to be successful in an academic setting. Several exercises are included to help students evaluate their skills and master the subject matter. Robles, M.M. (2012, December). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today 's workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), 453-465. This is an excellent article examining how executives perceive soft skills in the modern workplace. This study identifies the top 10 soft skills needed in the workplace and ranks them according to their importance. The top skills identified were: integrity, communication, courtesy, responsibility, social skills, positive attitude, professionalism, flexibility, teamwork, and work ethic. Nonis, S.A., & Hudson, G.I. (2010, January). Performance of college students: Impact of study time and study habits. Journal of Education for Business, 85(4), 229-238. The study investigates the relationship between the time a student spends studying and their academic success. Previous efforts to describe this relationship have had mixed results so this study focused on the aspect of study habits. The results of this study showed that some study habits had a positive direct effect on student success while others had a negative direct effect.