Reflective Report – International Business

This reflective report discusses the positive aspects of group activity in international business studies and assesses strengths and weaknesses in relation to skills needed to develop as an effective international business manager.

Running head: REFLECTIVE REPORT – INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Reflective Report – International Business
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1REFLECTIVE REPORT – INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Part 1 – Reflections on Individual Group Work
Positive Aspects of Group Activity
The individual group work that we were assigned entailed us first forming a group of
six or seven members, based on aptitude and skills. None of us group members were familiar
with each other at the time of forming the group, and I personally was quite excited at the
prospect of getting to know them and work with all of them collectively as a group. Although
we are all a part of the same class and same course, none of my group members were known
to me at the time of group formation, making me quite eager to interact with them and get to
know them better. We were to work on assignments pertaining to international business
studies, some of the topics which were not too well known to me and which I needed help to
understand better. I decided to be open and transparent in my communication style with all
my group members. The first activity that we decided to partake in as a group was an ice
breaker round where we were all to introduce ourselves formally. Each person introduced
himself or herself for two minutes, and when my turn came to speak about myself, I provided
them with some information about my cultural background, and proceeded to let them know
that while I was happy to be working with them as a group on an international business
studies assignment, some core concepts pertaining to the subject were those that I found to be
difficult and would need help in understanding. My honesty and transparency about my lack
of confidence regarding certain aspects of international business studies is something that was
well received by my group members, with two of them letting me know immediately that
they would be happy to help me out with any difficulties that I experienced.
Ours was quite a culturally diverse group with most of us belonging to different ethnic
and religious backgrounds. It was therefore a whole lot of fun getting to know one another’s
cultural backgrounds, food habits, choice of religion and religious practice and even political

2REFLECTIVE REPORT – INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
and social views, when interacting with each other to work on our assignment. I was as
forthcoming as possible in my communication with my group members, and apart from
taking help with topics that I did not understand, I also readily provided help and assistance
as and when it was needed. As a result, the work culture that developed in our group became
quite a harmonious work culture, with each and every one of us accepting the fact that we
were culturally and religiously different and that we had been united for achieving the
common goal of completing an international business studies assignment. We worked
proactively and constructively and did a fabulous job as a team, primarily because we were
also accepting of each other\s differences, culturally and academically, and were willing to
cooperate and collaborate in a way that we could work past these differences.
If I had to work with this group again for an assignment again, the one thing I would
do differently is avoid being too inquisitive about other people’s cultural backgrounds. While
the questions that I posed in trying ad getting to know the cultural habits of some of my group
members were not badly received, I will avoid being too inquisitive in this respect again, as
there is every possibility of too much curiosity not being taken well.
Part 2 – Assessment of Strengths and Weaknesses in Relation to Skills Needed in order
to develop personally as an Effective International Business Manager
Two skills which I do possess and which I believe will go a long way in helping me to
be an effective business leader are the ability to be a transformational leader and the ability to
carry out effective management of a multicultural team. I know I can be a good
transformational leader because I have the patience to listen to what other people have to say
instead of imposing my own views on people all of the time. I can listen with great
concentration to what another person might have to say to be, without interrupting this person
or making my own thoughts and views on the matter known, as this might not be needed at

3REFLECTIVE REPORT – INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
all. My patience and my ability to listen well to what other people have to say will make me,
I feel, the kind of leader that people at the work place will look up to and want to reach out to
if they experience difficulties while doing their work or if they have their own views or
perspectives to express regarding the type of work that they have been entrusted to do.
Another important element of transformational leadership is to give workers the flexibility to
do what they are doing and see if this works to the advantage of a business or not. In other
words, the transformational leadership style is the type of leadership that encourages
innovation within an organization (Boies et al. 2015) I personally am a huge supporter of
creativity and innovation. I like being given a lot of space to do my studies and my work and
I will give any person who is working under my leadership the space and the flexibility that is
needed in order to come up with interesting thoughts and suggestions about shaping and
developing products and services. By being flexible and innovative in my approach to work
and getting my subordinates to be the same, and my encouraging my subordinates to express
thoughts and views about the direction of business or the development of products and
services as and when they want, I feel I will be a good, effective and strong international
business leader (Dubois et al. 2015). My workers will be certain to feel comfortable, positive
and productive when they work under my leadership given how encouraging, supportive and
patient I will be with them. When it comes to weaknesses and leadership style, one major
drawback of mine is that I speak too softly and am not often able to throw my voice and get
my point across. I need to attend more workshops on leadership styles take part in vocal and
public speaking activities to enhance my skill.
Another one of my strengths is the capacity to handle people from multicultural
backgrounds. This is a skill that I have possessed right from childhood, given the fact that I
have grown up in a neighborhood which is quite culturally diverse and which was inhabited
by people belonging to different ethnic and religious backgrounds such as Chinese, Indian,

4REFLECTIVE REPORT – INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Korean, Japanese and even Spanish people. I got the opportunity at this point of time to
engage with these people and in the process I learnt to respect different types of cultural traits
and behavior. I got to learn how to be culturally sensitive and this is an attribute of mine
which I believe will prove to be very useful for me in a global place of work where I perform
the role of a business leader. I will be in a position to attend to the needs and requirements of
employees who come from different types of ethnic backgrounds and get them to do the best
possible work for me (Mikkelson et al. 2015). If there are cultural clashes or conflict that my
subordinates experience at the place of work, then I will be able to get such conflicts resolved
in the smooth and hassle free manner (Solaja et al. 2016). My weakness when it comes to
managing a multicultural team though is that I make at times too much of an effort to get to
know where it is that another person is coming from. In my endeavor to make a person feel
comfortable and culturally secure, I at times end up asking questions that I perhaps should not
be asking, when it comes to specific types of cultures that are religiously sensitive. I need to
be more mature and sensitive in this respect and I need to only ask questions that are relevant
for work and work related affairs. It is not my business to know why a person from a certain
cultural background refrains from eating beef while another person from another cultural
background refrains from eating pork. In the past I have asked questions on such matters and
I have faced a lot of antagonism and hostility in the process. I need to be careful as an
international business leader and not pose questions to my juniors that are likely to put them
off or make them feel uneasy. I have to respect them by letting them divulge whatever they
are comfortable enough to divulge and let matters rest there (Pacleb and Bornea 2015).
Part 3 - Action Plan for Skill Enhancement
Development Area Actions Support Resources Time Scale

5REFLECTIVE REPORT – INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Leadership Style Take part in leadership
workshops
Work based resources April 23 to April 30
Management of
multicultural team
Read texts and watch
educational videos
Work based resources May 1 to May 7

6REFLECTIVE REPORT – INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
References
Boies, K., Fiset, J. and Gill, H., 2015. Communication and trust are key: Unlocking the
relationship between leadership and team performance and creativity. The Leadership
Quarterly, 26(6), pp.1080-1094.
DuBois, M., Koch, J., Hanlon, J., Nyatuga, B. and Kerr, N., 2015. Leadership Styles of
Effective Project Managers: Techniques and Traits to Lead High Performance
Teams. Journal of Economic Development, Management, IT, Finance & Marketing, 7(1).
Mikkelson, A.C., York, J.A. and Arritola, J., 2015. Communication competence, leadership
behaviors, and employee outcomes in supervisor-employee relationships. Business and
Professional Communication Quarterly, 78(3), pp.336-354
Pacleb, T. G., & Bocarnea, M. C. (2016). The relationship between leadership styles, leader
communication style, and impact on leader–member exchange relationship within the
banking sector in the United States. In Challenges, performances and tendencies in
organisation management(pp. 275-287).
Solaja, M.O., Idowu, E.F. and James, E.A., 2016. Exploring the relationship between
leadership communication style, personality trait and organizational productivity. Serbian
Journal of Management, 11(1), pp.99-117.