SBenegaL

Category: Learning

  • Entrepreneurship as a Learning Journey

    The enormous learning is often a by-product of any entrepreneurial initiative – either at an Individual level or at the corporate level – an exponential rate of growth in ones learning is guaranteed. While one could argue, that any learning is extremely personal, there is sufficient generalizability in the pattern of events that lead to the learning; and so there is a great amount of categorization of learning possible from such vast and varied experiences.  

    Entrepreneurial Learning is simply the learning accrued as a result of entrepreneurial venturing. Such learning could be categorized based in multiple ways – based on the process of learning, or the target of feedback, or agency of learning etc. Looking at any single dimension would make the understanding desperate and wanting for comprehension. 


    Basing on the feedback from learning contributing to an enhanced understanding of one of these factors, I seek to categorize entrepreneurial learning to be about a:

    1. Learning about self
    2. Learning about Venture
    3. Learning about Interfaces

    While we might gain an understanding of the self, or business, or interface management from many individual experiences; Entrepreneurial experience definitely contributed to learning about all three. May be the following diagram could capture this point.

    To help understand the context better, let me give you an example from my own experiments. I shall use the same as we move ahead to help you relate with the categories.

    ——
    My first start-up experience in brief:

    My choice of venturing out on the entrepreneurship journey was based on gut-feel. When I had left my first job at efi to pursue my MBA, I was definitely contemplating about entrepreneurship sometime in the future. My intern-ship at a Startup gave me the confidence to try it out myself. Even before I had completed my PGP from IIMB, I was already on the streets trying to sell products/service and see if there are any potential buyers. One of the first realizations I had was about the drastic difference in the markets – Mumbai (where I was doing sales & looking for alliance partners as an Intern) and Bangalore (where I as trying to do a similar act). As I attempted running though the entire educational chain from K2PG (Kindergarden to Post Graduate colleges. Yes – I extended the K-12 norm to even higher levels in the educational hierarchy), I realized there were certain markets where I wouldn’t like to work in. 
    My closer interactions with the education system got me to identify numerous lacuna in the system itself. I began asking myself if the product I was trying to sells – an assessment tool would do any good to my customers? Would it in any way solve the problem I sensed the system had?. As I thought iteratively, I realized I wasn’t feeling comfortable selling a product that I believe wasnt serving to fix a problem. Yes I could go ahead and still sell it an make some money, but if I am not going to be confident about the product I sell, should I even sell it? My doubt took the better of me and I began thinking of different ways to solve the fundamental problem. 
    In the mean time, my partners and I thought it was good for us to shift to a focus on the UG-PG, where there was a lot of perceived demand for fine-tuning skills that be useful for the placements. A few months into this and I had a similar doubt – was I trying to polish something where the base material wasnt yet treated well enough and ready?

    This got me to consider looking at fixing the problem possibly by being part of the system. I decided to get into teaching – I worked as an adjunct faculty at a few MBA colleges, and also helped a few friends who were trying to work towards improving the quality of teaching at a rural school. This attempt gave me greater satisfaction! 
    —–

    The remainder of this blog explains what each type of learning would cover. 


    Learning about Self:
    It wouldn’t be unwise to claim that the only thing that is constant through the journey of entrepreneurship is the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is the journey of an individual/team through the ups and downs of conceptualizing, building and managing the venture that one creates. Such an experience is also a journey of self-exploration. The Individual evolves as the venture evolves. As events surrounding the venture unfold, the entrepreneur at the helm of the venture the individual mental fames are rewired from the feedback received. The learning about oneself takes one of the following forms:
    • knowledge about ones preferences and dislikes
    • capabilities that were hereto unexplored
    • strength to endure dejection and failure
    • tenacity to withstand differences in opinion
    • development of Strategic Thinking
    ——
    Reflecting on my experience: 
    From the above brief, you would have already sensed that I seem to search for impact of anything I do. If the impact in my eyes is seemingly significant I would love to put in my efforts behind it. This was a realization that I possibly would never have gotten wasn’t it for the various experiments I was doing with my career. 
    Another learning I have – may be from the constant reflection I have had is about the need for preparation! Yes preparation – I wasn’t to who believed in preparing with a lot of effort behind what I do. But, as I began preparing for taking classes at the different schools/colleges, I realized there is so much control that preparation comes in with. I today swear by the need for preparation – preparation not for a specific task, but more to enhance my capabilities. The tasks and challenges might be different so specific preparation is only the tip of the iceberg. It is really the work I perform on my capabilities – sink in more experience that makes be appreciate what I really need to focus on.
    ——

    While the learning about oneself is an important and significant portion of entrepreneurial learning, the individual entrepreneur also learns significantly about venture management. It is true that this experience of managing a venture would be complementary and supplementary to ones own journey of understanding oneself. This is a complex area and I guess I am better off staying away from it – given the causal ambiguity involved. The next section looks at venture management and the learning accrued therein in greater detail. 

    Learning about Venture Management:
    The venture an entrepreneur creates is the embodiment of individual aspirations, and commitment towards the venture creates attachment that is often the source of effort one puts towards developing capabilities suited for the venture and its subsequent growth. 
    • Business Model Development
    • People Management
    • Financial Management
    • Product Development 
    • Operational Management and Improvements
    • Marketing/Sales & Distribution Management
    ——
    Reflecting on My experience:
    While trying out the various experiments with venture types to see which was the specific forms of a firm that might be suited, I realize the benefits and drawbacks of each of these. What form suits what stage of the venture. 

    There were also experiments on the business models that I could think of for the venture. While there wasnt any single business model that I could scale up – since I havent been with my own firm for that long, I believe I have seen quite a few firms experiment with their business models while I was experimenting another career move as the Manager(Ops) at NSRCEL-IIMB. I picked up a few key skills to see when to pivot/preserve an existing business model; when to think of scaling up etc.
    ——

    The description above is extremely venture focused, and isn’t complete without mentioning about the learning that emerges from working at the boundary/interface between the venture and its environment. The next section looks at this in greater detail. 

    Learning about Interfaces:
    The growth of a venture is not a lonely journey. Interacting with the environment is a crucial part of venture growth. Sales and Marketing are not just the only avenues of such external interfacing, it moves beyond to realizing the negotiation and control one can exert in the context. Following is a list that merely scratches the surface, there are definitely more avenues where such interfacing would happen. 
    • Raising Finances/Investment
    • Structuring Vendor/Customer Agreements Deals 
    • – Terms of use
    • – Privacy agreements etc
    • Intellectual Property protection
    • Media Interfacing
    • Managing Exits
    ——
    Reflecting on my experience: 
    I must admit I havent had the experience of raising funds from external sources, however I have worked closely with a number of firms at NSRCEL in the fund raising and disbursing process and have got a good appreciation of how deals are structured, what form the key clauses, what is negotiable and non-negotiable clauses etc.
    ——

    The above discussion tried to categorize the learning based on the feedback received from the experience during the entrepreneurial journey.  To summarize the following diagram would be useful. 



    I know, each of the topics above could have an in depth blog in their own right, may be its something I could do later. This discussion however leaves us with an interesting set of unanswered questions – Can we capture this huge variety of learning in some form and use these to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem further? If yes how do we go about doing this? Can there be any agency that attempts to capture and transmit such learning?


    I attempt to answer these questions in my next blog. Hope you enjoyed reading it – do feel free to write back to me or leave a comment with your thoughts on the topic. 

  • Learning: Personality Differences

    In the last byte, we looked at how a manager could develop self-efficacy and encourage a particular behavior at work. In today’s byte, we look at how individual personality differences can affect learning.

    If we were to reflect to see if there exists any relation exists between the personality types – extroverts and introverts we begin to see some observations that are important. Introverts prefer quite time to study, concentrate and reflect on what they learn. Their ability to think is best when they are alone. Extroverts on the other hand tend to derive their energy from the surrounding – they think best in groups and while they are talking. They need to interact with other people, and generally learn through the process of expressing and exchanging ideas with others.

    If we also look at other ways to classify people, we could classify them as: Intuitors and Sensors based on the way they prefer to gather information or as Thinkers and Feelers based on the way they prefer to make decisions. We find that people who are Intuitors prefer theoretical frameworks, and look for meaning in material; their constant attempt is to understand the grander scheme of things and is constantly on the outlook for possibilities and interrelations. Sensors prefer specific and empirical data. They look for practical applications of what they learn and attempt to master the details of a subject, they are constantly on the lookout for what is realistic and doable. Thinkers prefer to analyze data and information, work to fair-minded and even headed; they seek logical and just conclusions and don’t like to be too personally involved. The feelers are found to prefer interpersonal involvement, are seen to be tenderhearted and harmonious, they seek subjective, merciful results and generally don’t like factual or objective analysis.

    It is important to understand form the above that each person has preferred mode gathering information and a preferred mode of evaluating and making decisions about that information! The functions of thinking and feeling determine how the individual evaluates and makes decisions about newly acquired information.

  • Learning: Self-Efficacy

    In the last byte, we looked at social learning and the role of self-efficacy in the same. In today’s byte, we look at how self-efficacy can be developed and used by a manager.

    It is clear from the last byte that self-efficacy is an extremely sought after behavior. Managers who want to develop self-efficacy in their teams would need to work on their available people resources – give them challenging jobs then support them with time investing in coaching, counseling to ensure that the performance improves and finally reward the employee’s achievement. It would be very important in this attempt that the employees are empowered, power shared with them – these help increase the employee’s self-esteem and self-efficacy.

    At this point it would be important to highlight that social reinforcement in combination with self-efficacy can have a very strong influence on the behavior and performance of employees at work. It was also recognized by Bandura that financial and material rewards often occur following or in conjunction with the approval of others and also, undesirable experiences often follow social disapproval.

    The actual challenge in real life for a manager lies in selecting and developing employees to achieve higher self-efficacy at work! The remaining would pretty much follow…

  • Social Learning Theory

    In the last byte, we looked at extinction and understand how it could be used to drive a desired behavior. In today’s byte, we look at how people pick up things from others in their environment (this is part of the discussion we initiate today on social learning).

    The Social Learning Theory was proposed by Albert Bandura; the underlying belief is that learning occurs through the observation of other people and the modeling of their behavior. An individual could learn from their surroundings, by looking at their parents, relatives, supervisors etc.

    If we are to question, how this could be effective at all; we would quickly realize that it relies more on the confidence an individual has on his/her ability to perform a task. In this case, when the individual’s beliefs and expectancies about his or her ability to perform a specific task, also called task-specific self-efficacy is the central underlying idea.

    Self-efficacy has four sources:

    1. Prior Experience
    2. Behavior Models (witnessing the success of others)
    3. Persuasion from other people
    Assessment of Current physical and emotional capabilities

    Success is only possible when one believes in one’s own capability to get something done!

    Look at experiences around you or even within you to look out for examples of self efficacy… there definitely are many

  • Learning – Extinction

    In the last byte, we looked at punishment and how it could be used to drive a desired behavior. In today’s byte, we look at using extinction to weaken a behavior.

    Extinction is a means of weakening a behavior by not attaching any consequences to the action. It is a bit unclear until we take an example to understand this better.

    Assume you have a colleague who is generally passing around sarcastic comments – one approach that as a listener you could take is not reacting to it. This would definitely weaken the enthusiasm and the spirit of the colleague to continue using sarcasm. To reinforce the desirable behavior further, it would be extremely good if you could combine the use of extinction by using positive reinforcement. In this case, you could complement the colleague for constructive comments (positive reinforcement) and ignore the sarcastic comments (extinction)

    The rationale for using extinction is that a behavior not followed by any consequence is weakened. One would require patience and time to see it really work.

    If one is to decide between extinction and punishment as a thumb rule, one could check what the behavior is likely to be. If the behavior is dangerous, then punishment is preferred to deliver a quick and clear lesson.

  • Learning – Punishment

    In the last byte, we looked at reinforcement schedule. In today’s byte, we look at Punishment in detail.

    Punishment could be understood as the attempt to eliminate or weaken undesirable behavior! A manager could punish in 2 possible ways

    1. By applying negative consequences
    2. By withholding positive consequences
    Of the employee’s actions.

    Example of the first case could be a match ban introduced by the match referee on the player who violated the moral code of conduct in a particular game. Example of the second case could be considered in sales setting where, a sales associate who makes a few visits to companies and whose sales are well below the quota would receive a very small commission at the end of the month.

    There is however one problem with punishment – it may have unintended results. Since there are discomforting experiences, it could lead to negative psychological, emotional, performance of behavioral consequences! It is also to be noted that, it is not just the punishment that raises fear – a threat of punishment may also elicit fear!

  • Learning – Reinforcement Schedule

    In the last byte, we looked at reinforcement closely, in today’s byte we look at the schedules of reinforcement and the effect it attempts to achieve.

    The following diagram summarized the impact of different schedules of reinforcement. These diagrams are adapted from the Table  in the book Organizational Behavior Modifications by Fred Luthans and Robert Kreitner (Copyright 1985) page 58 by Scott Foresman and Company and the authors of our reference book. 



  • Learning – Reinforcement

    In the last byte, we looked at graphical representation of the Reinforcement and Punishment Strategies. In today’s byte, we attempt understanding the reinforcement better.

    Reinforcement essentially implies the attempt to develop or strengthen desirable behavior by either bestowing positive consequences or withholding negative consequences. If the manager chooses to apply positive consequences to any desired action of his/her employees, then it results in positive reinforcement. These reinforcement take different forms in different organization – they could be bonus, awards, recognition, promotion etc.

    Negative reinforcement is to be understood a bit closely – it results from a manager withholding negative consequence when a desirable behavior occurs. Example: A manager could choose not to exercise the choice of reducing pay for his employee who usually report late if the employee reaches office on time!

    In addition to just these consequences, the schedules of reinforcement also play a very influencing role. These could be continuous, fixed, intermittent. Understanding the influence of these schedules for reinforcement would definitely be interesting, we shall make it the subject matter of the next discussion byte.

  • Learning – Reinforcement, Punishment 2

    In the last byte, we looked at the strategies of reinforcement, punishment. In this byte, we look at the graphical representation of the same.

    The strategies discussed in the last byte, were put up as a law of effect by Thorndike; we could summarize them as in the diagram below. (This is a modified version of Figure 6.1. from the standard reference book.)



  • Learning – Reinforcement, Punishment

    In the last byte we introduced ourselves to the concept of operant Conditioning. In today’s byte, we continue this discussion and delve deeper into understanding reinforcement and punishment.

    In simple terms, reinforcement is used to enhance a desired behavior, while punishment and extinction are used to diminish undesired behavior. This theory of reinforcement is fundamental in organizations design of the reward systems. If these reward systems are well designed it would help the organization attract and retain the best employees!

    If these reward systems are planned in a strategic way, they would help motivate behavior, action and accomplishments that would propel the organizations in the direction of its goals. These strategic rewards need not necessarily be cash but could be training, educational opportunities, stock options, recognition, travel etc. These sorts of rewards have a positive consequence on the employee’s behavior.

    If we revisit the last point and the one earlier, we realize that reinforcement and punishments are administered through the positive or negative consequences of the employee’s behavior. Positive consequences are results as a result of certain behavior that the person would find more attractive or pleasurable. Negative consequences are results of behavior that a person finds unattractive or aversive. Examples of positive consequences include pay increase, bonus, promotion, transfer to desirable geographic location or even a praise by one’s superior. The Negative consequences could include disciplinary action, undesirable transfer, demotion, harsh criticism by a superior.

    One essential aspect that a manager would need to be aware of is the cultural differences and gender differences when providing reinforcement through positive or negative consequences.