Marketing and Communications in Digital World : Report

Reflective writing

Reflective writing can be described as an analytical practice where the writer describes a real life
experience with respect to his or her learning’s (Ramage, Bean and Johnson, 2017). The present
study has thus focused on writing a reflective account of experience related to a group
presentation that was recently given by a team on market analysis and marketing mix for a new
or improved product or service. There has thus been a usage of Tuckman’s theory to reflect the
group activities via 5 stages being forming, storming, norming performing and adjourning (The
Stages of Team Formation, 2015). Emphasis has been given on the overall thoughts and
emotional reactions of group members followed by developing ideas about how future
performance can be improved.
In order to conduct a presentation on principles of marketing and communications in a digital
world a group of 3 to 4 members was created. It did not took more than 1 week to form a good
team for the ppt. The team was however joined by me sometime later as I had some issue with
my previous team. As the members of this new team were well acquainted with each other since
previous semesters hence there existed no formality in terms of introduction or having an idea
about another person’s personality. We were thus quick enough to work which started by
designating roles to one another on the basis of skill set and ability possessed by team members.
There was no issue in this as everyone readily accepted the role that was given to them. In my
case, I was given the role of driver on account of my ambitious and energetic personality. Some
of my team members also knew me as a strong motivator who had the ability to push the entire
team for giving their best efforts in the presentation. However in the later stages I found that we
should have taken an orientation session with each other so as to formulate a vision and knowing
more about each other’s skill set. This was as we faced several issues such as non-clarity about
each other’s strength or weakness and uneven workload. This somewhere put an impact on
smooth functioning of the group.
After a brief time spent in forming stage we all started working as per our designed roles on the
presentation topics. Initially it was difficult to maintain the pace of presentation as everyone had
their own commitments and the ones free were not ready to take additional workload. This led to
minor arguments between team members and work was affected to some extent. This marked the
entry into storming stage as we were working as individuals rather than operating like a group
for the presentation. Further issues arose as the expert wanted to work alone and did not want

any interference from others. On the other hand the explorer wanted everyone to share the ideas
so that best presentation can be generated. This personal conflict showed its effect at the end
when we are unable to complete the presentation by the deadline and thus had to ask for
extension. As a driver of the team, I was in favour of the explorer and motivated everyone to
share the ideas with respect to layout, slide show, content to be written and how can work be
divided between the team members. I faced a few conflicting situations as well with the analyst
who wanted to assess the ideas after they were generated. But this situation was managed with
not much difficulty as we communicated with each other openly in case the analyst had strong
reasons for the failure of certain ideas.
Then came the norming stage of pot as all the team members were clear with the work to be done
and also had a strong urge to work together as a team so as to get the task done in a timely
manner. I personaaly felt an increase in my morale as well as that of other team members.
Everyone were now aware of each other’s talent and experience that every member bough to the
group. The expert had a lot of experience of giving the presentations hence he took a lead to
manage how the presentation will be given. Everyone started focusing on the objective of the
group which was to give the best presentation. More emphasis was now on preparing our part of
presentation and also arranging the content into one after having small discussions for 15
minutes on a daily basis. This stage also saw a decrease in individual conflict as everyone started
taking initiates and helped each other when members faced any issue. There was also a seamless
flow of information by creation of what Sapp group were emphasis was given on keeping each
other constantly updated about one’s own work. There was further an increase in the trust factor
within the group members.
Then came the performing stage were final day of giving the presentation arrived. I along with
the other members was quite confident in the part to be handled. However, my fear of public
speaking came into picture. Some of the members were very furious with me but others
supported by motivating me. I struggled to present my part in the manner it was planned but
managed it somehow. I wish to work on this issue in the coming future.
Last but not the least was adjourning stage where the presentation was finally over. Everyone
was positive of the work done by them. I however felt bad for the presentation part but was
happy to receive support of my team members and the instructor was also motivating me. I