Role Play Reflection Essay

This essay reflects on a role-play experience as a telephone sales advisor at Vodafone, using the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. It analyzes the challenges and opportunities of the role, the effectiveness of the learning style, and outlines an action plan for future improvement.

Individual Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Description : ...............................................................................................................................3
Feeling:........................................................................................................................................4
Evaluation : ................................................................................................................................5
Analysis:......................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion:.................................................................................................................................6
Action Plan..................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Role Play is the act of copying the behaviour and character of someone who is totally
different from you. It may sound easy, but it is not that easy as it requires a lot of practice which
enhances the behaviour from the role model. It is a way in which an individual makes someone
his role model and then he fully tries to act and behave like him. Basically role play is the way of
pretending to be someone else (Carter, Tregear and Lachance, 2015).
This study has been conducted in order to have a detailed study of role play in an
organisation. The following project is based on a role play activity as a telephone sale advisor at
Vodafone, a multinational telecommunication company has been taken. The company was
founded by Ersnt Harrison and Gerry Whent in 1991, and headquartered in London. The report
covers a detailed reflection of the overall of telephone sales advisor and how this role reflected in
the performance of an organisation based on what factors are effective and what are not. Gibbs
reflective cycle has been used in order to understand the working.
MAIN BODY
Role play refers to a way in which an individual pretends to be someone else. It helps an
individual in enhancement and development of confidence, creativity, physical development,
knowledge, skills and problem-solving. This technique is an excellent tool for engaging
individuals and allowing them to interact with peers in order to complete task assigned on time.
It indicates how individuals handle difficult situations which occurs frequently in business
(Christens and Zeldin, 2018).
Under this study, Vodafone a leading telecom service provider has been taken. The
company provides various voice and data services by using 2G, 3G and 4G platforms. It operates
with in about 25 countries. The company is committed to deliver delightful experiences to
customers and contributing in creation of digital world to build a better future by introducing
newer and smarter technologies. Currently, Vodafone is facing a problem in its services and they
really need to work on it, as customers are disappointed and they are raising complaints.
Vodafone is trying to attain customer satisfaction by making their team more efficient and by
investing significantly in the resources such that better services can be provided (Dessart,
Veloutsou and Morgan-Thomas, 2016).
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A telephone sale advisor is an individual who advise and assist customers and persuade
them to buy the product or service in regard of maximising sales. I played the role of telephone
sale advisor in Vodafone company. My role there was :
 To timely update the customer information in the database.
 To Approach customers and offer them advice on various products and services and
persuade them to buy.
 To meet the needs of customers effectively in a helpful manner.
 To take and record orders with the help of either phone or through email by using
computer system.
 To influence customers to avail a product or service.
But I was not at all able to perform some of these tasks, as I am a very nervous person so
this role seemed to be difficult for me. As every day I have to deal with so many clients and give
them information regarding various products or services required by them be it selling a phone or
a new phone plan for international calls. As I am not a confident person so i8 am not able to
perform my duties effectively which are expected from me. So, most of the time customers were
not at all satisfied by half given information and unfortunately they had to visit stores.
In Vodafone, the learning style availed by employees is generally reflector style.
Reflector are those individuals who stand back and observe things. This style focuses on
collecting total information regarding something before making any decision, and are always
keen to “look before they reap” (Epstein and et. al., 2018). This learning style helped the
employees to learn just by observing other individuals performing some task. By using this style
performance and productivity of employees in the organisation can be improved and better
decisions could be made. Since decisions are made by properly analysing the situation and its
effect on the performance of the organisation, so they will be always in favour of organisation.
Even I as a telephone sale advisor have various roles and responsibilities to play in the
organisation, so the learning style availed by me was Reflector style in order to make some
decisions in regard of my operations.
Being a slow decision maker I too have to make some decisions which were made on the
basis of sound knowledge and experience which has been gathered by watching and listening to
some situation. These decisions can be made only by properly evaluating the situation and
evaluation is only possible if sound knowledge could be attained by a particular subject matter.
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This style helped me to gather data and has considered my work experience which has helped me
in working towards appropriate conclusion. Under appropriate conclusion, various actions
which can be improved in regard of the current activity will be mentioned in order of effective
working in an organisation.
Job role refers to a document which describes the tasks, duties and responsibilities of an
individual. It consists of job description, job duties, job responsibilities and requirements in order
of what a person does in an organisation. My job role in Vodafone was of telephone sale advisor
(Esmail, Moore and Rein, 2015). Basically, a telephone sale advisor is an important job position
for any telecom company as it helps in marketing the telecom equipment and services. I have to
perform varied range of tasks there. My responsibilities includes:
 Identification of contacts and build relationships with the customers through cold-calling
in order to guide or assist them in making a purchase decision..
 Write and submit accurate orders taken by customers.
 Maintain in depth knowledge about the product in order to supply customers with the best
and accurate information available.
 Handling customer complaints in a calm manner and provide them necessary suggestions.
Now this was the hard time for me as I feel that people learn best from their experiences
and I really need to work on it in order to improve my performance.
Reflection of an activity refers to a pivotal task which help individuals, communities and
organisations in gaining an in-depth knowledge of the effective and non-effective characteristics
of the overall activity (Faigin and Stein, 2015). So this is where I thought to use Gibbs reflective
cycle in order to understand what I did well and what I need to work on. This model is one of the
most effective model developed to reflect appropriately at different stages. The Gibbs reflective
cycle starts with:
Description :
In the given activity, my role in Vodafone was of Telephone Sale advisor. Basically my
role was to build relationship with customer and to assist and advice them in such a manner
which reflect in making and increasing sales (Fitzgerald and Zientek, 2015). There were certain
tasks which were required to be accomplished be me. Some of them are handling customer
complaints, managing sales, etc. It was expected that I carry out my role with utmost sincerity.
As I have to deal with many clients daily, one day I was given with a task of selling one of my
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client a new phone plan for international calls and a new phone. As I am a very nervous and
insecure person I was very scared of this task and I dint wanted to perform this task.
By utmost faith I tried to make call to the client and tried to explain him details regarding
the package and price. The client agreed and asked me some more details regarding the package
of the programme and prices of phone (Fredericks and et. al., 2015). I do answer all his queries
regarding what are the rates, for how many days, etc. which helped in developing his interest and
made the client accept the offer. This experience helped me in knowing which all skills I should
apply to attain customer satisfaction. By just focussing on building customer interest I forgot to
verify his details which acted as a barrier in this process as I did not know which colour, what
size, etc. the customer wanted to buy so my client must be very disappointed with me and I can’t
render him any other product or service without his consent. In order to make it clear I will have
to call him back and confirm his details so that right services could be provided to him.
Feeling:
Before conducting this activity my confidence was very low as being a telephone sale
advisor I have some responsibilities. But when I progressed though this activity when my client
just confirmed the order I feel immensely happy at that moment, as this activity enhanced my
confidence and helped me in improving my performance. But when I realised that I just forgot to
ask the details of the client I felt really bad as being a Telephone sale advisor it is my duty to
fulfil my clients need. My client must be thinking how irresponsible I am that I dint even asked
his contact details, price, etc. This situation caused stress to me. If my superiors get to know such
acts about me they will also create a negative image of me and might think me as the most
irresponsible person. After this situation I thought that I will never make such mistakes which
ruins my company's image in my life again. From then onwards, I have decided to maintain a
proper register in which I can record all the telephonic entries in order to keep record of
customers so that these kind of problems could be avoided in future. Now what I think about that
situation is that miss happening may occur in life at times so one must be ready to handle such
situations effectively in order to grow and develop according to the dynamic environment.
Moreover,I will always work on the basis of feedback provided by the company, in which all my
shortcomings are mentioned and accordingly I will try to improve my performance.
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Evaluation :
It was quite an effective task as it was very helpful in gaining an appropriate and insight
of an activity, as all the tasks will be evaluated in terms of good or bad so that an individual can
learn from his mistakes (Haworth, Bruce and Middleton, 2015). Tasks associated with it helped
me in gaining the experience how to handle situation wisely in an effective manner that it won't
occur in future. All the tasks associated with this job role has helped me in gaining appropriate
information about how employees and managers can effectively carry out their activities at
Vodafone.
As we know, every activity has some favourable as well as unfavourable outcomes which
are very crucial to be evaluated. There were many positive experiences throughout this role-play.
The first and most important experience was that handling customer complaints helped me in
improving my overall performance at Vodafone. Each member within the organisation supported
me throughout the role-play when I told them about the mistake made by me. As accurate and
timely feedback are given of each task has helped me in performing my role appropriately. By
the conduct of this activity, there will be more clarity of work as now the focus will always be
given to each and every individual who has called.
However, as per the negative experiences are concerned, there are several aspects which
didn’t work as planned. The first facet in regard of this experience, was the occurrence and
happening of this activity made me lose my self-confidence as the information gathered by me
was vague. Additionally, for some time I was not at all able to perform my task well as I was
scared to commit a mistake again. Another negative experience was in regard of managing
difficult customers (Hickey, Reynolds and McDonald, 2015). Being a nervous person it was very
difficult for me to answer the queries of customer in terms of cooperation and demand. Vodafone
is a very big company and role-playing its telephone sale advisor required me to all type of
customers with utmost experience as well as professionalism. However, this task seemed very
complex and tough for me as I hesitate many times due to pressure. Moreover, the feedback
which was given in regard of my performance indicated ineffective communication skills, by
showcasing various ways in which situation could have been dealt effectively. Along with this,
some more essential aspects were there in the role play, which were not within my reach, as my
role was limited. One thing went really well with this situation was when I called the client again
to ask his details, he answered all my questions in regard of his details very calmly patiently
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because I explained him all the procedure in an effective manner. But as I dint fulfilled my
customers need I felt really obliged that I was unable to fulfil the expectation of my customer.
Analysis:
An overall analysis of the above activity will be done, which is the main agenda of this
section (Hutchins and Tindall, 2016). This overall role play activity helped me in realising how
important is this exercise to hold on a customer as customers are the prime responsibility of
every organisation. Moreover, it made me realise the how important a telephone sale advisor is
in the company, as he is responsible for overall telephone transaction in order to sell product.
There were certain effective factors which could have helped in the conduct of this activity. For
instance, the power to choose can be given to customers which could have helped the customers
in getting the product or service of their own choice (Jacob and et. al., 2015). By doing this
thing, customer may feel that the company is prioritising customer’s perspective in order to help
customers.
A Telephone sale advisor should give the customer various details regarding colour, size,
etc. of the phone. By prioritising customer needs would help him and the company in building
reputation, which will help in generating profit and increasing the company's market share as
more and more customers would like to attain such type of services in order to get fruitful
satisfaction. Another prominent element which could have helped in role playing better was by
continuous practising the task. More practice will help the telecom sale advisor in effective
determination of customers need and will help in enhancement of communication skills which
are necessary to deal with difficult customers. Effective feedbacks by the superiors may hinder
the overall performance of the activity in some cases. If this situation ever occurs in future, I will
make it sure to get the details of the customers by maintaining proper records in registers and PC,
according the name of customer and what all product or services are required by him.
Conclusion:
This section requires the overall conclusion of the experienced gained by the conduct of
this activity. This activity has helped me in analysing different aspects of role playing as well as
conduct of an organisation (Luo, Zhang and Liu, 2015). From this experience, I was able to
analyse the importance of telephone sale advisor and how important it is to carry this role in an
effective manner in the organisation. I have gained various positive and negative experiences by
the conduct of this research, the positive experience which I got was now I was able to analyse
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the customer needs and can effectively enhance them to render services. One prominent element
for the same is in regard to gather the total information about the product or service. I could have
undergone through several aspects to understand the need of customers and could have
undergone several training sessions in order to enhance skills and knowledge to carry out the
information. Another aspect which could have been addressed in a different manner is handle
difficult customers (Mazerolle and et. al., 2015). The activities performed earlier could work as
an encouraging source to come to a good conclusion. The activities performed could lead the
telephone sale advisor in improving his performance by effectively communicating with clients
and could enhance the customer to avail the services provided. The negative experience of the
activity was the telephone sale advisor was not listening to his client which showed that he is not
interested in fulfilling customer needs, what he wants to do is just to sell the product.
Action Plan
It refers to how one deals with similar situation in the future. Each reflection requires an
action plan in case when similar situation arise again. It is developed for future situations, events
or activities and is also considered as a final step. It is a necessary practice which requires strong
and flexible measures to ensure success the next time when situation is encountered. In the 5th
step of conclusion a promise is made by people to themselves and If everything goes well the
promise can be repeated again. Action plan helps in development of a different approach (Morse
and Munro, 2018). As I got nervous when client have agreed to buy and not able to provide him
with the proper options and not able to ask about the specification he required because of lack of
confidence and lack of knowledge about the company as well as its products. In order to avoid
such situation in the future I have to attend some of the training as well as programs that boost
the confidence of mine.
During training I have to attend various mock test in which they give situation relating to
real life and we have to answer that question this will overall increase my ability to speak and
also increased my knowledge in every context. I must also go through the company's website
from there I can enhance my knowledge as well as aware about the products. Another approach
would be that I can get assistance from my team members as well as my tutors in finding out my
shortcoming in relation to the information provided. I must be self-updated about the company,
launch of new phones and their specification so that I can easily guide which phone suits more
according to the client requirement. Timely feedback from clients will help me to find the
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shortcomings and help me to improve where I lack and also will help me to maintain customer
relationship. As once relation is develop this will help me to know about the requirement of each
customer easily. Short small summary or notes can be written in a diary which describes what
actually I need to ask from customer will help me to communicate with them easily. By writing
in diary and reading it again and again or regular basis will help me to address client more
efficiently (Zandvliet and Anderson, 2017).
Furthermore, I would attend some of the seminar as well as also undergo the intensive
training session where I can enhance my communication skills and ways to overcome such
situation. Impulsive communication and better listening skills will help me to surpass the
limitation and will help me in managing by customers in a better manner. I can also take help of
other team member that how they overcome themselves in such situation. By taking the help of
team members this will help me to develop my skills in a constructive manner. All these above
plan would allow me to be better at my work and also would help me to carry out such roles at
par level with set expectations. This because there are certain techniques and tactics are
presented in my whole action plan through which I can work over my weakness and be able to
perform better.
CONCLUSION
Thus from the above topic it has been concluded that community engagement plays a
great role in regards with working together with group of individuals. Such activity helps in
figuring out the strength as well as weakness of the task and determine the overall effectiveness.
It is very essential to engage in role play activities regarding several job roles to acquire effective
information which can professionally benefit the individual. Furthermore, each stage of Gibbs
Reflective model must be used appropriately to reflect in suitable manner. As this model
encourages to think systematically about the experience one had during a specific situation.
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REFERENCES
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Epstein, J. L. And et. al., 2018. School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for
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Zandvliet, L. and Anderson, M., 2017. Getting it right: Making corporate-community relations
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Online
Gibbs Reflective Cycle by Graham Gibbs. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.toolshero.com/management/gibbs-reflective-cycle-graham-gibbs/>
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