Running Head: SELF-REFLECTION
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Out of Class Essay # Self-Reflection [Name of Student] [Name of Instructor] [Class number and Title of class] [Name of Institute] [Date] PAGE BRAKE
Out of Class Essay #: Self-Reflection
SELF-REFLECTION
Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................................................................................3 1) Analysis of playing the simulation.......................................................................................3 2) Analysis of team experience.................................................................................................5 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7 References........................................................................................................................................9
Introduction A reflective report allows individuals to revisit their experience and evaluate them with the aim of improving them. This reflective report is divided into two sections. In the first section, I will be reflecting my own performance against the key performance measures identified in the simulation. In the second section, I shall be evaluation my experience while playing the simulation with my team members. In both the sections, I will be using the Gibbs reflective model to understand the scenario, analyse my performance and identify any performance gaps in it (Adeani et al., n.d). The Gibbs reflective model allows individuals to learn from their experience by evaluating their experiences in five steps, namely, description, feelings, evaluation, conclusions and action (Adeani et al., n.d).
Main Body 1. Analysis of playing the simulation Description We were provided with a smartphone company called the Phone ventures. For the market expansion and establishment, a simulation game shall be used. The simulation game would allow us to find market opportunities, conduct different analyses, formulate international strategies based on the findings of the analyses and also to take important operational decisions. The scenario is the company is in its infancy when it has been handed over to us. Therefore, we had to choose vital decisions for the company such as country of choice for the expansion, the strategic plan, the market analysis and the other
organisational decisions such as organisational structure and management structure. The simulation was used as an aid to create the business plan for the establishment of the SELF-REFLECTION company. At the same time, we were also supposed to create a presentation where we would have to conduct the required strategic analysis for the market following the segments and performance parameters provided by the simulation program. Feelings In my opinion, the simulation game was extremely simple and easy to use. For the creation of the business plan, the simulation game followed a certain sequence of interconnected activities, which is very important for deriving valid results from the simulation. I was impressed by the way the simulation took care of all the smaller tasks which are vital for creating a proper business plan. For instance, while creating an inventory management plan, I will also be receiving the option to keep track of the inventory remaining, so that I can refill the inventory stocks on time to continue selling the products. The all inclusive results provided by the simulation can be extremely insightful for the management team. However, I am extremely concerned about the validity of the results. Till what extent does the result is relevant to the current market scenario or if the strategies chosen by the simulation shall be effective in the real world is a big question for me. Evaluation The most important impact of this simulation game is that I was able to live through a complete experience of creating a business plan without bothering about the consequences. At the same time, after receiving a firsthand experience of generating a business plan I am feeling unconfident about my abilities. I feel that I might not be SELF-REFLECTION
competent for conducting such a complex process. However, I was able to learn several concepts and theories which can be used for conducting detailed market analysis such as SWOT, PESTEL, competitive analysis and several others. I also learnt their importance and how to use them effectively to create important strategies for the market. As the chief executive officer of the company, these concepts and theories are expected to be useful in future. I was able to figure out a number of knowledge gaps while I was creating the presentation based on the results of the simulation. Conclusion If I would get the chance of playing the simulation again I would like to be more prepared and learn more intensively regarding the different steps required in a creating a business plan because this time, I was not able to follow certain processes and approaches adopted by the simulation while formulating the business plan. Therefore, learning more about the processes and concepts involved in it shall help me to stay on the same page as the simulation. Action: I would like to conduct a thorough research through the business plans of different companies and learn about the different concepts and models they have used. I would also like to implement them and learn about their real-life outcomes. I believe that in future, these teachings shall be used practically therefore, it is important to build a theoretical knowledge about it is very necessary. 2. Analysis of team experience Description SELF-REFLECTION
While playing the simulation game, we were divided into groups of 5 people. Each group member shall be assigned an organisational position which they shall be maintaining while running the simulation. For instance, I was allotted the position of the Chief Executive officer and Stanley Ponraj was alloted the position of the chief marketing officer in the company. As a business plan is an all inclusive plan which includes the market analyses, entry strategy and post entry establishment strategies; each member shall be made incharge to develop their respective departments. Therefore, it was the role of every member to run the functions included under their department and records the inferences. As the simulation game provided multiple options for every segment it was necessary for the departmental head to take the appropriate decisions by taking the consultation of the other departmental head as it should be done in a real life scenario. Therefore, it became very important to enforce the team work attitude and skills while playing the simulation. Feelings I feel that we were able to deliver the expected results from the simulation because we managed to maintain transparency amongst the team members. Application of strong communication skills from everyone was phenomenal in strengthening the bond amongst us. However, we did face certain leadership issues, as the chosen leader for our group was not able to guide the group through the process. In fact, he was lacking in motivating skills which could have been helpful to overcome the time management issues and boosted the productivity of the team members. Evaluation SELF-REFLECTION
This module allowed me to work in a group which helped me to identify my team working skills and the gaps which are present in them. Till this point, I never worked in a group; therefore this was a very special experience for me. My team members were extremely supportive towards me and they made sure that I was on the same page with them even though I preferred to work alone on my department. Besides that I was also able to identify the different skills which I was lacking but are very necessary for working in a team such as collaborative skills and time management skills. I was able to showcase proper communicative skills like others, but I certainly felt that I was having issues with collaborating with the other team members as I was more focussed on using only my creative ideas instead of taking the input of others as well. I was amazed at my problem solving skills which were important to overcome the challenges posed to us while creating the presentation. Conclusions In my opinion, I feel that there was very less exchange of ideas and brainstorming sessions for us, which would have helped us to develop more creative strategies to fulfil the objectives of the company. I would like to adjust my team working attitude and also develop the necessary team working skills before taking part in any team sessions in SELF-REFLECTION future, as it would help to boost my performance. I would also like to be more involved in the team activities and create better bonding situations with the other team mates. Action plan I am planning to research and learn more about different team working skills such as time management, problem solving, communication critical thinking, collaboration and so on.
I would like to particularly focus on developing my time -management skills, collaboration skills and leadership skills to perform better in future. I would also like to study about different conflict management skills to handle any such conflicting situations in future. However, most importantly I need to accept my team members and learn to share my work with them.
Conclusion In this reflective essay, I was able to use the Gibbs Reflective model to analyse the two situations differently and reflect on my performance. I am very happy with the reflective session as I was able to re-evaluate my decisions and actions for a second time. I even intend to follow up on the action plans which I have prepared today to strengthen my skills for the future.
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SELF-REFLECTION
References Adeani, I.S., Febriani, R.B., Syafryadin, S., Mangana, A.V., Kurniawan, E., Ananda, J. Maryam, S., Using GIBBS reflective cycle in making reflections of literary analysis. Indonesian EFL Journal (IEFLJ), 6(2), pp.139-148.