Module Sharing by Lai Soen and Henry on 15 Aug 2006
Sharing by Lai Soen (Cost & Management Accounting)
Lai Soen shared about the industrial visits arranged by the CMA team. The purpose of the visits was to provide experiential learning in some of the Cost & Management Accounting topics. The team visited Apple Computer, SPH Printing Centre and Fraser N Neave (F & N). Lai Soen’s sharing focused on the visit to F & N.
The F & N visit was an option for the CMA students. The visit to F & N had to be organized at least 6 months ahead of time in order to book the desired time slot with the company.
In the F & N visit, the students were shown the assembly line for bottling of concentrates and syrups, the automated assembly line, the automated warehousing system and the distribution system. This tour has enabled students to broaden their perspective of CMA, on the topic of product costing, where raw materials are processed and turned into finished goods.
After the tour, the students had to participate in a competition. Students were divided into groups and each group had to choose an icon from a list of famous people or characters. The list includes Tom Cruise, Mickey Mouse, Samurai and even our SM Lee. The objective is to produce a drink (Coca-Cola) befitting the market segment that relates well with the icon. The winning team came up with their version of Coke - ginseng Coke with SM Lee as the icon.
From the competition, the CMA students have learned that marketing can be expensive and Coca-Cola must have in place an effective marketing plan to ensure that the desired ROMI (return on market investment) is attained. Students also learned about the breakeven analysis concept for vending machines.
Feedback from the students of the F & N visit was very positive: 84% of the students found that the visit was informative; 83% of the students will recommend this factory visit to other students; 81% of the students were more familiar with CMA concepts after attending the factory visit; and 72% of the student found that the visit has helped them understand that CMA/MA knowledge is relevant.
Sharing by Henry (Interactive Business Skills)
IBS is a 3rd year compulsory module for our BS students. In this module, students have no exams or tests to sit for, no textbooks to buy, and should not fail if they are diligent in carrying out the assigned tasks.
IBS is a CA module. The assessment on the business etiquette and networking skills is 30%. The other 70% of the assessment is from the role-play. The students would role-play as B2B sales executives trying to sell their products or services to their customers (tutors). Each student needed to create a scenario on the intended product/service. After the scenario is approved by the tutor, the student would need to make a data gathering call. The student would spend about 15 minutes to find out the fundamental needs from the client (the tutor) in order to put up a meaningful proposal. The tutor would provide feedback and an indicative grade to the student immediately after the first call.
After gathering the necessary information, the student would then need to make the solution selling call which would usually take up about 20 minutes. In this call, the student would use all the persuasion skills they have learned to engage the client in buying her/his product or service. Again, the tutor would give immediate feedback and an indicative grade after the second call.
Henry also shared that there are three learning stages in the art of persuasion. The first stage is the “awkward” stage: when the students are not used to the various skills and find it difficult to perform the tasks. The second stage is the “conscious” stage. In this stage, the students are more familiar with what they have learned and they try to put their skills into practice. The final stage is the “natural” stage where the skills learned would have been internalized by the students. However, Henry commented that the students need much practice in order to reach the final stage. Most of our students are at the “conscious” stage.
Finally, Henry shared some issues he faced. First was the objectivity issue. However, this issue is resolved by trusting the tutors’ professionalism. The second issue was the stress on both the students and the tutors with the role-play. Students perceived IBS as a stressful module because they had to perform the sales calls and interact with the tutors individually. As for the tutors, they had to wear multiple hats all at the same time. They had to be the actor (act as the client), the assessor (give grade) and the commentator (provide feedback), all in a 15-minute sales call. The third issue was about time. The role-play model was very time intensive. This was especially so when they had to ask the students who failed the sales call to repeat the call again.
Quoting from Henry, IBS will change the students’ life and they will never be the same again after the module. The students would have acquired the necessary persuasion skills, know how to carry themselves in a business environment and avoid getting themselves into embarrassing situations in a cocktail party or a formal dinner setting.
Summarized by: Jeannie Wong
Vetted by: Ng Lai Leng
Lai Soen shared about the industrial visits arranged by the CMA team. The purpose of the visits was to provide experiential learning in some of the Cost & Management Accounting topics. The team visited Apple Computer, SPH Printing Centre and Fraser N Neave (F & N). Lai Soen’s sharing focused on the visit to F & N.The F & N visit was an option for the CMA students. The visit to F & N had to be organized at least 6 months ahead of time in order to book the desired time slot with the company.
In the F & N visit, the students were shown the assembly line for bottling of concentrates and syrups, the automated assembly line, the automated warehousing system and the distribution system. This tour has enabled students to broaden their perspective of CMA, on the topic of product costing, where raw materials are processed and turned into finished goods.
After the tour, the students had to participate in a competition. Students were divided into groups and each group had to choose an icon from a list of famous people or characters. The list includes Tom Cruise, Mickey Mouse, Samurai and even our SM Lee. The objective is to produce a drink (Coca-Cola) befitting the market segment that relates well with the icon. The winning team came up with their version of Coke - ginseng Coke with SM Lee as the icon.
From the competition, the CMA students have learned that marketing can be expensive and Coca-Cola must have in place an effective marketing plan to ensure that the desired ROMI (return on market investment) is attained. Students also learned about the breakeven analysis concept for vending machines.
Feedback from the students of the F & N visit was very positive: 84% of the students found that the visit was informative; 83% of the students will recommend this factory visit to other students; 81% of the students were more familiar with CMA concepts after attending the factory visit; and 72% of the student found that the visit has helped them understand that CMA/MA knowledge is relevant.
Sharing by Henry (Interactive Business Skills)
IBS is a 3rd year compulsory module for our BS students. In this module, students have no exams or tests to sit for, no textbooks to buy, and should not fail if they are diligent in carrying out the assigned tasks.IBS is a CA module. The assessment on the business etiquette and networking skills is 30%. The other 70% of the assessment is from the role-play. The students would role-play as B2B sales executives trying to sell their products or services to their customers (tutors). Each student needed to create a scenario on the intended product/service. After the scenario is approved by the tutor, the student would need to make a data gathering call. The student would spend about 15 minutes to find out the fundamental needs from the client (the tutor) in order to put up a meaningful proposal. The tutor would provide feedback and an indicative grade to the student immediately after the first call.
After gathering the necessary information, the student would then need to make the solution selling call which would usually take up about 20 minutes. In this call, the student would use all the persuasion skills they have learned to engage the client in buying her/his product or service. Again, the tutor would give immediate feedback and an indicative grade after the second call.
Henry also shared that there are three learning stages in the art of persuasion. The first stage is the “awkward” stage: when the students are not used to the various skills and find it difficult to perform the tasks. The second stage is the “conscious” stage. In this stage, the students are more familiar with what they have learned and they try to put their skills into practice. The final stage is the “natural” stage where the skills learned would have been internalized by the students. However, Henry commented that the students need much practice in order to reach the final stage. Most of our students are at the “conscious” stage.
Finally, Henry shared some issues he faced. First was the objectivity issue. However, this issue is resolved by trusting the tutors’ professionalism. The second issue was the stress on both the students and the tutors with the role-play. Students perceived IBS as a stressful module because they had to perform the sales calls and interact with the tutors individually. As for the tutors, they had to wear multiple hats all at the same time. They had to be the actor (act as the client), the assessor (give grade) and the commentator (provide feedback), all in a 15-minute sales call. The third issue was about time. The role-play model was very time intensive. This was especially so when they had to ask the students who failed the sales call to repeat the call again.
Quoting from Henry, IBS will change the students’ life and they will never be the same again after the module. The students would have acquired the necessary persuasion skills, know how to carry themselves in a business environment and avoid getting themselves into embarrassing situations in a cocktail party or a formal dinner setting.
Summarized by: Jeannie Wong
Vetted by: Ng Lai Leng
posted by bigmama at 1:54 AM
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