As one furthers their education into their specific major, it is important to take a moment and make sure they are properly developing proper skills and traits to be successful. In my situation as a supply chain management major, there are a lot of these skills and traits I have been cumulatively building up ever since I entered college. In this article, I want to touch upon the skills of project management and data analysis while also looking into the traits of global orientation and adaptability. I will do this by explaining what these skills/traits are defined as, how to acquire them, and finally give some resources for further development.
Section 1: Skills for Supply Chain Management Majors
The first skill that is essential for those majoring in supply chain management is project management. In its essence, project management adheres to the idea of dishing out work and managing all aspects of an expansion. One must be able to properly create an efficient work plan with short notice and also adapt and change the plan if things go haywire. I think this is an important skill to not just supply chain managers, but any business type manager as it is the optimal way to show leadership. Everyone is looking at the project manager if anything goes wrong, meaning that anything that becomes abnormal is blamed on them. With proper project management skills, one can limit the amount of mistakes made in the first place, but also be able to change and adapt if things don’t go their way. In my opinion, the best way to create a skill like this is by practice. Whenever there is a group project in one of my classes, I always try to show initiative and take control as the group leader. I make it my job to properly dish out and assign roles and constantly keep up with changes in the assignment to make sure we are on track. This doesn’t just happen in the classroom either. I also help with certain clubs that force me to create a calendar and deadlines for events, something that inadvertently helps develop project management as well. For outside resources, any internship that allows for group collaboration is a time where one can practice project management. There may even be opportunities in certain jobs where project management can be accomplished.
Calendars such as the one above is a great example of practicing project management. (Source)
Secondly, I think it is imperative that every supply chain management major is practiced in the skill of data analysis. In the supply chain sense, data analysis means to take data from things such as articles, statistics, accounting statements, etc., and put it into a format that allows for analysis. Then with this newfound information, managers must be able to apply the good data into their own company projects, consequently boosting production. It is an important skill to have as it can show a company where they are losing money. There may be problems with suppliers that go unnoticed without statistical evidence. Data analysis makes clear what areas companies need to cut spending on. The best way to acquire this skill is through academic courses. Professors give a multitude of situations in class where students are given a hypothetical company that is failing, in which the students’ jobs are to analyze and tamper with their production. Also, there are many organizations on campus that have problems obtaining and budgeting materials so joining one of these with the intent to help fix some of their shortcomings would be a great way to acquire on-the-job experience. Similarly to project management, data analysis takes a lot of practice to master, so therefore the best way to obtain proficiency in this skill is to do lots of case studies online or talking with professionals to gather insight on how they would fix potential problems.
Section 2: Traits for Supply Chain Management Majors
The first trait that is needed for one to major in supply chain management is the idea of being globally oriented. In this case, globally oriented ascertains the idea of recognizing a difference of cultures around the world and being aware of the certain habits and beliefs of each. This is important for a multitude of reasons but the main reason is that supply chain usually involves interaction and meeting with lots of different individuals. If one were to disrespect a peer by behaving in a way disrespectful to a certain culture, that business may want to cut off ties and stop being a client. Some ways to acquire this trait on campus include taking cultural awareness electives or even just spending time with international students and talking about their experiences. Ways to raise global awareness can be obtained by doing a plethora of research. Obtaining this research doesn’t have to be boring either. It can include attending a group discussion about global events or even stopping by cultural clubs such as the ASA (Asian Student Association) and listening to what their leaders have to say. Even trying to learn another language can help one better understand the culture associated with that specific vernacular.
“We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin,
but we all belong to one human race” –Kofi Annan
Another important skill for Supply Chain Management majors is adaptability. With supply chain, there is bound to be a slew of problems either in production or shipping. There are many times where workers must totally abandon projects and immediately flip to a new one. If one is lacking the ability to change gears quickly, they may find themselves behind. If a leader is behind, that can really hold up the whole team as it may become confusing what exactly is needed to be worked on. A delay like this can be detrimental to a company’s production state and in the worst case can lead to a total loss of profit. That is why I believe that adaptability should be something practiced in everyday life. One can do this by creating contingency plans for each and every project they do. These plans take stress off the user if something were to go wrong as there is a backup to rely on. Practice can also come into the form of just creating solutions to potential problems seen while completing everyday activities. As for outside resources, jobs and internships usually allow employees to give insight on how they can adapt to certain problems. There are also many books about adaptability that can be read and studied to further acquire this necessary trait.
Overall, it is important to recognize these skills and traits as something essential for success in the workforce. As I proceed through the rest of my college career, I plan to use the resources I mentioned throughout the article to develop these areas as much as possible. I truthfully believe mastering these skills and traits will put me ahead of the competition and will lead to an easier time in landing internships and jobs.
