BMM3003 Reflective Account: Learning Business Operations & Management

This essay is a reflective account of a student's learning experience in the 'Introduction to Business Operations and Management' module (BMM3003). It covers key concepts learned in two semesters, including business types, organizational structure, SWOT analysis, HR practices, marketing, leadership, and teamwork. The reflection highlights the student's initial understanding, growth through the course, and the practical application of theoretical knowledge, emphasizing the importance of teamwork and leadership in business success. The student also reflects on the supportive learning environment and the value of case studies in understanding real-world business scenarios. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments for students.

REFLECTIVE ACCOUNT
OF LEARNING

TABLE OF CONTENTS
REFLECTIVE ACCOUNT OF LEARNING.................................................................................3
Semester 1....................................................................................................................................3
Semester 2....................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

REFLECTIVE ACCOUNT OF LEARNING
After we were taught the module “Introduction to Business Operations and Management
BMM3003’, I got more knowledge about the stated topics and the understanding to use these
effectively in my career. In semester 1, we were taught about management of the project, its
characteristics and importance for effective completion of the project. We also learnt about the
types of business and various elements of these businesses like its structure, the departments in
organisations and business environment too and the lecturers also taught us about SWOT
analysis that is used to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to
the specific element that we want to analyse and examine. In semester 2, we were given an
understanding about the HR professionals and were taught how to become one, the importance
of marketing was also covered. We were then taught how to become a good leader and the
ways to encourage teamwork among the members. The module also stated how to choose the
best technology that can promote the company and make various decisions for the betterment
of the business. I really liked learning all these as it will definitely be useful for me in my
career.
Semester 1:
In the beginning of the semester, we were taught about the basics of a business. This helped me
in understanding what a business really is, what are the types of businesses and their benefits
and shortcomings. The impact of the business environment on the goodwill, productivity,
profitability and the operations of the business were also taught. I did not have a clear
understanding about these aspects prior to studying this module and I gained all the basic
knowledge that will be useful to me when starting a business. It also covered the importance of
organisation structure in a business and various types of structures that could be used in a
business by identifying their pros and cons and deciding what best suits one’s
business(Armenia and et.al., 2019). The study of structure of a business includes details about
the elements like the division of departments, staff requirements and their job roles,
requirement of equipment and technological resources and logistics plan.

I also learnt that management is a prominent factor in success of a task, be it business
management, human resource management or even project management. The project will not
be successful if it and the related activities and operations are not effectively managed. The
module gave ideas about how to effectively plan and control the activities, manpower,
resources, quality of the products and services and also of the activities, etc. I also learnt about
the types of stakeholders and their roles in the business. Learning all this helped me understand
about management of the company. We were also taught about the duties, roles and
responsibilities of the staff and also ways to identify the suitable people for having the job
roles. All this is crucial while hiring and recruitment as without understanding the job role and
the requirements, selecting the best suited employees is not possible(Picciotto, 2020). Human
resource plays a prominent role in the success and growth of a business and hence, hiring the
right employees will make sure that the productivity of the organisation is up to the mark.
To understand the effects of business environment, we were taught to undergo a study of
internal as well external environment of the business is necessary which can be done using
SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis. Factors related to Human Resource or manpower, their
relations, fund and capital availability, etc. are a part of the internal environment of the
business that impacts the company but can also be controlled by the organisation. Some of the
factors that are beyond the control of the business but have a great impact on the present as
well as future of the company can include issues related to Covid-19, new immigrations and
even Brexit(Cherunilam, 2021). The understanding of these factors and their impact help to
identify the reasons and causes of various issues and also to make efforts to mitigate their
impact on the business as much as possible.
The module also covered various models and theories related to the several elements of
business. Learning about the pareto chart, cause-and-effect diagram, etc. also helped me in
understanding the ideas and methods of professionals that can be used to analyse and evaluate
the numerous aspects of a business that play important roles in success of the business. The
module also covers many case studies that provide an insight into the real life experiences and
examples of various businesses and people. This helps to understand the practical handling of
various issues and situations by several business and personnel(Gogokhia and Berulava, 2021).
Along with theoretical knowledge, practical knowledge and a hands-on experience is also
gained through these case studies.

At the start of the semester, I could not understand things very effectively. As it was a new
topic and I did not have much knowledge about business, it was a bit hard for me to grasp all
the points will full understanding of the subject. But the support from teachers and peers
around me helped me a lot to learn everything actively. The teachers used different teaching
methods to help us understand the topics that are difficult and they also used to change their
methods of teaching for the students who had issues learning. They also used various examples
of businesses and the approaches in terms of their missions, customer handling, marketing
strategies, etc. used by these businesses to grow and be successful. The more I learnt about
business management, the more I started developing interest in it. Learning and understanding
the basic of business and its management will act as a strong foundation for learning in
semester 2 as once the basics are clear, other important aspects can easily be learnt.
Semester 2
In semester 2, business management was taught in depth where all other elements of business
were taught. This helped me in gaining much better and deeper knowledge about the business
and its management. The importance of decision making was taught as to process of making a
decision, why making good decisions are important, effects of bad decision and the types of
decisions that could be made in businesses(Назаров, 2020). As there are several elements in a
business, many different decisions are supposed to be taken like strategic decisions related to
the strategies of the business and operational decisions, there are also programmed or non-
programmed decisions. The methods taught in the module for making decisions and
judgements is also helpful in day-to-day life. The examples of various successful businessmen
like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Colonel Sanders, etc. were very useful for us to understand
the ways to make a business reach heights.
We also learnt how to find ideas for businesses, how to implement these ideas and turn into
real business and then how to make it successful. Finding a good and unique business idea is
not sufficient until we learn how to effectively bring that idea to life. We learnt that to start a
business, first a good and comprehensive plan must be made with all the required
elements(Marchau and et.al., 2019). Then plans for running the business and mission and
vision for it should be evaluated. To identify the effectiveness of the business idea and plan,
various analysis like SWOT and PESTLE can be done to understand how and by what the

business might get affected, what might strengthen it and what might lead to its failure. Also,
proper understanding of the types of businesses like sole trader, partnership, joint venture, etc.
and their pros and cons is necessary before starting a business as to what would be better for
the business. Also, analysing the requirement of funds and investment is necessary to
determine the type of be used to meet the requirements. The business plan should consider all
the important factors like profit margins, costs, sustainability, etc. before commencement of the
business.
Then, the lecturers taught us about the importance of teamwork in the success of the business.
As human resource is the key to most of the business operations and the employees have to
work with each other so as to complete the overall activities in the organisation(Driskell, Salas
and Driskell, 2018). As one operation is related to the other, hence a proper coordination is
very essential among the employees as a dispute or lack of coordination between two
employees might disrupt the entire process or activity. No employee can run a business alone
and hence teamwork is very essential for the growth of the business. By understanding the
aspects and importance of teamwork in business, I was also able to improve my skills of
coordinating and cooperating in real life. While making assignments, we got full support from
our teachers in every possible way. The group that I was in for the group assignment was also
very supportive as I knew all the members well and helped each other throughout by sharing
notes, helping each other with our respective tasks and teaching each other about the topics that
we had confusions in. This helped to clear our doubts too along with improving our
communicative skills as we used to frequently interact with each other. My assignment for the
semester was completed very effectively and easily because of this(Bell and et.al., 2018). This
shows that teamwork not only helps in interacting better with the people but it also helps in
communication more effectively with them.
The employees as well as the operations cannot always be effective on their own. Here comes
the requirement of a leader that not only manages the staff and activities in the organisation,
but also leads them in a way so that they can be more productive and efficient(Lee and et.al.,
2019). This helps to improve their productivity leading to enhancement of the efficiency and
success of the business. Managing the employees is not an easy task as there is a diverse
workforce in the business and everyone has their own beliefs and opinions which can clash
with others and create a chaos in the company. Thus, good leaders are very crucial in the

organisation so that they can understand the perspectives of the employees and strike a balance
so that no employee becomes unsatisfied as organisations with demotivated employees tend to
have higher labor turnover which may affect the productivity of the business. The leaders also
act as supervisors for the work of its followers and provide feedback to the employees that can
help them in improving their performance. This is beneficial for both, the organisation as well
as the employees. Good leaders also guide in actively handling the competition as competitors
can either become a hurdle in your success or they can also become your motivation to
innovate and become the cost leader in the industry(Rahman, 2019). Hence, handling
competition in a way that helps the business to strive is the best option as competition is
unavoidable in most of the businesses.
In conclusion, the knowledge and understanding of the business that I gained through the
module in both the semesters will help me to commence my studies for L4 effectively.
Learning in such a supportive and great environment with remarkable teachers who have
always been ready to help us has been a great advantage. I gained knowledge about all the
aspects and elements of the business and its management like structure and culture of the
business, types of business, management of the resources and manpower in the business,
making effective decisions, various ways to analyse and research the effectiveness of a
business plan, ways to analyse the environment of the business, importance of teamwork and
strong leadership, etc. improved my understanding of business that will help me when I start
my business or become a part of any business. Making group projects and assignments,
researching on various case studies, etc. gave me confidence to start my L4 study without any
confusions or unnecessary delays.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armenia, S. and et.al., 2019. Sustainable project management: A conceptualization-oriented
review and a framework proposal for future studies. Sustainability. 11(9). p.2664.
Bell, S. T. and et.al., 2018. Team composition and the ABCs of teamwork. American
Psychologist, 73(4), p.349.
Cherunilam, F., 2021. Business environment. Himalaya Publishing House Pvt. Ltd.
Driskell, J. E., Salas, E. and Driskell, T., 2018. Foundations of teamwork and
collaboration. American Psychologist. 73(4). p.334.
Gogokhia, T. and Berulava, G., 2021. Business environment reforms, innovation and firm
productivity in transition economies. Eurasian Business Review. 11(2). pp.221-245.
Lee, A. and et.al., 2019. Beyond relationship quality: The role of leader–member exchange
importance in leader–follower dyads. Journal of Occupational and Organizational
Psychology. 92(4). pp.736-763.
Marchau, V. A. and et.al., 2019. Decision making under deep uncertainty: from theory to
practice (p. 405). Springer Nature.
Picciotto, R., 2020. Towards a ‘New Project Management’movement? An international
development perspective. International Journal of Project Management. 38(8). pp.474-
485.
Rahman, U. H. F. B., 2019. Diversity management and the role of leader. Open
Economics. 2(1). pp.30-39.
Назаров, А.С., 2020. Psychological aspects of managerial decision making. Молодой ученый.
(44). pp.45-48.