Reflective Account of CSR and Partnerships

This research paper provides a reflective account of the study on CSR and partnerships. It explores the importance of corporate social responsibility and the issues faced by Aston Martin due to lack of transparency in corporate governance. The paper also discusses ways to overcome these issues and improve corporate social responsibility.

CSR and
Partnerships - Part
2

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Reflective account........................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Reflective writing is said to an analytical practice wherein an individual describes real
scene or event and adds personal reflection on meaning (Race, 2019). Writing reflective account
provides effective learning way to understand about topic and learning of person. For the
research working, I adopted interpretivism philosophy for better supporting qualitative as well as
theoretical information. Moreover, inductive approach is also used be me to better scan and
analysis in depth information so to learn about the topic. The existing project is an individual
reflection writing that includes understanding, feeling and learning from the module of CSR and
Partnerships.
MAIN BODY
Reflective account
The entire journey of my research about CSR and partnership was informative and
knowledgeable for me which have enriched my understanding together with awareness for
evaluating issues concerned with lack of transparency in corporate governance of Aston Martin.
The present reflective account is all about my understanding and learning that is gained be me in
research process. For having systematic addition to more valuable process of learning, Gibb's
learning cycle is utilised by me. It includes several stages that comprises entire my
understanding, learning and feeling of personal experience from the research process (Gordon,
2016). The stages are as follows:
Description of experience: My experience in the research process was satisfactory as I
learned about CSR and its importance with Automotive industry. I learned about corporate social
responsibility which is a kind of international private organisational self regulation that have aim
to contribute for goals of philanthropic, charitable nature, etc through engaging and supporting
ethically oriented practices. For my research work about the topic that is to evaluate issues
related to lack of transparency in Corporate Governance of Aston Martin, I understood that the
corporate social responsibility is important for a business as it empowers them to leverage
resources for doing good and providing positive atmosphere to society. In the research working, I
also gained huge knowledge about certain issues that company such as Aston Martin faced
because of lack of transparency within corporate governance. Some of issues that I identified are
conflicts of interest, oversight challenges, violation of ethics and many more as the shareholders
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were not informed about decision making, critical strategies devised by managers and so on
aspects. Further, I also investigated about some better ways that the company could adopt for
overcoming issues so that its corporate social responsibility are met with better actions. The
ways are leading better communication and formulating independent audit committee. I also
visited the company many times that also helped me in improving me learning for the research
work.
Feelings and thoughts: In the research work, I felt great in each step of completing
project. Before starting of the research work, I was very nervous as this was my first study about
corporate social responsibility and partnerships. But, when I properly completed my first step to
select topic and getting it approved from the tutor, I was relieved and felt motivated for the
investigation. After the research process, I felt that I can undertake various studies that are
relevant to this topic as it increased my interest about aspects related to corporate governance,
CSR and others. I also felt great through using secondary sources as it improved my knowledge
about multiple academic sources that are books, journals, organisational websites, etc.
Evaluation of experience: While developing the module, I faced many ups and down.
There were various things that went good while many things didn't worked. The good things in
the research module was collection of quality of information form various number of sources
(Tang and Lee, 2020). The other good things was working ethically as if I have misused any
information then it was against my working. However, the bad things in my experience was false
assumptions and mismanagement of time. I faced various issues in managing my limited time in
collection of information and writing up all research. After the research module, I analysed that I
didn't set any time frame for the research due to which the situation arised.
Analysis: According to me, my understanding and learning went well as I was dedicated
from the study. I also analysed that the reason due to which situations didn't went well was due
to my negligence towards time and spending more time in collecting information. From the
situation, it is also analysed that before starting any study, it is important to allocate resources
and time in different workings that are key in study (Wain, 2017).
Conclusion about learning and things done differently: From my experience, I can
conclude that I learnt about corporate social responsibility, issues that a company faced because
of lack of transparency in its corporate governance and better ways that could be adopted for
overcoming from issues. It is a positive situation for all people that are involved in the study as
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this improves their learning and knowledge about corporate governance so that the work
ethically in future. Moreover, to conduct further study, the skills that I needs to develop is time
management skill and presentation skill.
Action plan: If I have to perform the same research, then I will allot my time for all
workings. I will develop my time management skill by prioritising working, creating effective
schedule, setting deadlines, overcoming from procrastination, avoiding multitasking and taking
regular breaks. At same time, presentation skills will be developed by me through practising,
transforming energy into enthusiasm, adjusting my surroundings, using positive visualisation and
trying to cover necessary materials only.
CONCLUSION
From the discussion. It is concluded that reflective account is the writing of analytical
paper wherein description about understanding, learning and feeling about an experience. For
this, Gibbs model is best cycle to describe about what is learned and felt in the module. The key
cycles of the model are describing experience, stating thoughts and feelings, evaluation,
analysing for making sense of event, conclusion and action plan. In research process, an
individual learns about various aspects related to the topic and feels great from the experience.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Gordon, L., 2016. Reflective Writing and the Research Process.
Race, P., 2019. The lecturer's toolkit: a practical guide to assessment, learning and teaching.
Routledge.
Tang, B. L. and Lee, J. S. C., 2020. A reflective account of a research ethics course for an
interdisciplinary cohort of graduate students. Science and Engineering Ethics, pp.1-17.
Wain, A., 2017. Learning through reflection. British Journal of Midwifery. 25(10). pp.662-666.
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