Reflection on Management and Leadership Skills

This study reflects on the knowledge gained through workshops covering topics such as strategic mindset, marketing, innovation, problem-solving, and more. The Gibbs learning cycle is used to evaluate the learning process, and the importance of effective communication and teamwork is emphasized. The study concludes with practical knowledge gained on conducting research, data analysis, communication, and presentation skills.

PORTFOLIO
1 | P a g e

Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Part A:........................................................................................................................................3
Part B:.........................................................................................................................................6
Part C:.........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusions:...............................................................................................................................7
Reference list:.............................................................................................................................8
2 | P a g e

Introduction:
This study is intended to describe a reflection regarding my knowledge that I have gained by
research on a various topic. This topic is also effective for showing my overall learning and a
thinking pertaining to my team working skills.
Part A:
The first workshop covered the activities of knowing, doing, being, the four-capstone skills
and the strategic mindset. The four important capstone skills that I learned are theoretical
skills, applied skills, practical skills and reflective skills. KDB is the way of developing a
strategic mindset. It helped me increase my knowledge of conducting management and
reflection efficiently and managing competitive advantage. According to Baldi (2016),
today’s business environment has become too complex and the managers must have the
ability to fix poorly structured issues. Hence, KDB can help one can solve such critical issues
effectively. Knowing alludes to understanding the theories and processes of management.
Doing is the practical implementation of expertise in real situations and being is concerned
with self-reflection and personal goals and values. Thus, it helped me to enhance my
capability as a better manager.
The second workshop was focused on developing strategic knowledge for gaining
competitive advantage. In this workshop, I have learned about the critical skills that I need to
become a problem solver and an effective leader. Here, I have also gained knowledge on
some bad habits of an inefficient leader such as leading the team without any specific vision
and being stubborn and resistance toward change. As stated by Varmaand Chavan (2015), the
four theoretical supports that are critical for being an effective leader and gaining competitive
advantage are the ability to recall knowledge, solving issues by adopting several theoretical
lenses, using quantitative and qualitative information at the time of solving problems and
combining hard and soft skills.
Workshop 3 covers process of building strategic knowledge, marketing and operations.
During this workshop, I learnt how to review marketing information and operations and
marketing activities at a strategic level. Here, I have gained understanding on strategic
marketing, product strategy, product portfolio, branding, new product development,
differentiation strategy, positioning strategy, challenger strategies, digital marketing,
disruptive marketing, future trends, performance measurement, quality control and
3 | P a g e

competitive advantage. It is critical carrying out business operations and marketing
strategically for gaining a competitive advantage over competitors.
The fourth workshop provides knowledge on attaining competitive advantage through
innovation and development. Growth can obtain through acquisition, gaining greater sales
and market share, achieve profit through cost leadership and productivity. Burch et al. (2016)
stated that innovation is critical for maintaining the competitive position in the current market
environment through introducing new ideas, products and ways of doing business.
Competitive advantage can also be gained through innovative HR and practices, as they are
considered as successful techniques for disruptive and famous companies. The workshop has
provided significant knowledge on the characteristics of an innovative thinker and the traits
that I need to avoid.
Workshop 5 provides knowledge on problem-solving and business models. It is critical to
have informed and rigorous decision-making. Business analytics and business models help
people making better decisions, tailor business structure in a superior manner and being better
managers. There are different types of business models like three-by-three matrix
(Directional Policy Matrix), descriptive models. Belk’s model of consumer behaviour is one
of the examples of descriptive models (Wirtzet al. 2016). The workshop enriched my
understanding of useful methods of applying business models. One has to be consistent in
terms of using the frame of reference between allied models such as brand or product. A mix
of models should be applied for gaining better outcome.
During the seventh week, I have learned about research methods, research data, and analysis.
Data is not only needed for research rather it is also required for everyday operations.
Businesses thatutilise data and have data administration plan are able to run the business
more sustainably as compared to other firms. Data are of two types primary and secondary.
This week also consists of data analysis process. Quantitative and qualitative two types of
research methods are there that are used differently based on different needs of different
researchers.
From workshop 8, the leading knowledge that I have gained is mainly related to leadership
communication followed during managing change. This workshop has expertly helped me in
understanding the brief expertise regarding change along with that; it also helps me in
understanding the importance of change in strategy. I have observed that change in policy is
always necessary in maintaining organisational sustainability and for the implementation of
4 | P a g e

reform, it is necessary for applying for an effective change management program so that it
can help every stakeholder in remaining engaged with the change implementation process.
The workshop has helped me in gaining the knowledge that change implementation process
may be failed if any organisation becomes unsuccessful in overcoming the resistance (Belias
and Koustelios, 2014). Therefore, for implementing change, it is necessary for applying a
better communication and an active leadership style such as participative leadership style to
engage employees with the difference. Message to communicate change must be included
everything about the gap so that it can help the employee in understanding the importance of
change and show minor resistance.
Workshop 9 has helped me in gaining a practical knowledge regarding the business reporting.
This workshop has helped me in gaining knowledge regarding various types of reporting, and
it is also useful in identifying various elements of any new report. The format of the business
report is changing, and business reporting are including more number of infographics,
advanced analytical tool, visual presentation etcetera (Reitmaier and Schultze, 2017). I have
gained the knowledge that for creating a practical decision with the help of business report, it
is necessary for involving business intelligence along with the data analytics because it
provides some effective presentation regarding the predictive analysis location intelligence
and big data analytics.
Workshop 10 has effectively provided the knowledge regarding various metrics and the
performance so that the efficiencies regarding particular practices can be adequately
measured. I have gained the learning that for measuring the capabilities of the process with
more energy, it is necessary for selecting metrics by considering the strategic action, the
value of customers, challenges faced by firm’s etcetera. I have gained the knowledge that for
measuring the organisational performance, setting some key performance indicators are
necessary based on the strategic objective so that it can be achieved to get the pre-determined
output (Eberhardinger et al. 2015). I have made the knowledge from this workshop that for
the achievement of the successful organisation, it is always important to improve
performance by facilitating continuous learning and applying contingency based approach so
that sustainability can be achieved in the organisation.
The 11th workshop discusses employability and trends. It talks about seven trends of the
workplace for 2020 including flexibility, design thinking, training, development of teams,
and employee engagement, the importance of people analytic and rises in performance.
5 | P a g e

Taylor (2016) stated that disruption is one of the greatest trends, experiencing the world of
employment. The main reasons for disruption are globalisation, technology, and
demographics. I have learnt major eight dimensions of employability skills are critical
thinking, basic literacy, management, leadership, interpersonal, information technology,
system thinking and work ethic disposition. The fundamental skills are transferrable core
abilities that represent important functional and allowing knowledge skill and aptitudes
needed for being a success all the employment levels at the present-day workplace.
Part B:
For reflecting the own learning, Gibbs learning cycle can be implemented. As per the Gibbs
learning cycle, the first step is description where I have gained various types of knowledge
regarding different management and leadership skills. During collecting knowledge regarding
multiple topics, I have conducted detailed research on the internet about these topics so that
valuable and relevant information can be obtained. After the identification of the report, I
have recorded the information with efficiencies and analyse the data for the achievement of
the better research related outcome. The next step of the Gibbs learning cycle is evaluation
where I have gained the information that I have achieved positive learning because I have
followed a better learning style. I have learned different knowledge of team working skills,
searching skills, practical data analysis skills etcetera. For the conduction of the study, I was
involved in a team, but it has created some level of negativity because of the creation of the
conflict that has lowered the outcome of the result. Therefore, from the fact, it can be said
that the overall learning that has been achieved from this study was good, but some points
were not going well. Therefore, I think that for the achievement of a useful organisational
result, it is necessary for implementing a better communication among team member and
every team member must work with each other co-ordinately so that better result can be
secured.
Part C:
I always enjoy in working in a team because I always enjoy the team spirit and I have the
capacity in understanding the need of others. I think that I am excellent teamwork because I
have the capabilities in helping other team member and achieve the team goal with
efficiencies. I believe that strong communication skill is the most important fact for the
achievement of a useful team-related goal. For this purposes, I have always maintained
excellent communication with my other team member. During doing the teamwork, we have
6 | P a g e

the knowledge that unclear team goal can create confusion among the team member. For this
purpose, we have segregated the complete tasks into various parts, and then our team leader
has assigned the functions into various team members who were useful for us because it
creates the lesser level of confusion and creates an active team goal. However, there were
various team members with different perception and an attitude that has created a conflict
among the team member that has formed issues in achieving the exact goal of the team.
Along with that, for communicating with each other, we have used the chatting apps for
reducing the costs of communication that was a terrible strategy that was followed by us. This
is because; this communication through this chatting app cannot resolve the confusion that
was faced us. Therefore, for the improvement of the performance, the main thing that I could
do is creating a face-to-face communication strategy so that it can resolve every type of
issues regarding the communication and generates a useful organisational result. If I am a
team leader, then I will explain every role to the team member with efficiencies so that the
chances of the conflict development can be minimised. Along with that, I will implement a
better leadership style such as participative leadership style. Along with that, I will apply an
active communication style if I will become the team leader.
Conclusions:
From the above research, I have gained a practical knowledge to conduct better research,
better team working skills, better data recording and analysis skills, along with a better
communication and presentation skills.
7 | P a g e

Reference list:
Baldi, S (2016) Knowing, Doing, Being –Developing Management Competencies for 2020
Belias, D. and Koustelios, A., 2014. The impact of leadership and change management
strategy on organisational culture. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 10(7).
Burch, S., Andrachuk, M., Carey, D., Frantzeskaki, N., Schroeder, H., Mischkowski, N. and
Loorbach, D., 2016.Governing and accelerating transformative entrepreneurship: exploring
the potential for small business innovation on urban sustainability transitions.Current opinion
in environmental sustainability, 22, pp.26-32.
Eberhardinger, B., Anders, G., Seebach, H., Siefert, F. and Reif, W., 2015, September. A
research overview and evaluation of performance metrics for self-organisation algorithms.
In Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems Workshops (SASOW), 2015 IEEE International
Conference on(pp. 122-127). IEEE.
Reitmaier, C. and Schultze, W., 2017. Enhanced business reporting: value relevance and
determinants of valuation-related disclosures. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 18(4), pp.832-
867.
Taylor, L., 2016. What is employability and what does it mean for you?.How to Develop
Your Healthcare Career: A Guide to Employability and Professional Development, pp.1-20.
Varma, C. and Chavan, C., 2015. Startegic Human Resource Management to Create
Sustained Competetive Advantage.
Wirtz, B.W., Pistoia, A., Ullrich, S. and Göttel, V., 2016. Business models: Origin,
development and future research perspectives. Long Range Planning, 49(1), pp.36-54.
8 | P a g e