Reflective Journal: Analyzing the Learning Experience and Application

This reflective journal details a student's learning journey, focusing on the research process, business ethics, and the application of knowledge gained. The student reflects on the systematic approach to learning, including topic selection, planning, and secondary research. The journal highlights the challenges and insights from the course, particularly in understanding outsourcing business functions and conducting qualitative and quantitative research. The student emphasizes the practical application of the learned skills in both personal and professional life, such as improved planning, scheduling, and decision-making based on thorough research and ethical considerations. The journal concludes with an assessment of the course's value and its impact on future learning and career development.

Running head: REFLECTIVE
Reflective Journal
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1REFLECTIVE
A reflective journal is to keep the record of the process of learning. It helped me reflect
on my learning throughout the course and stand back from myself and look at my learning more
objectively. In this paper, I will share my opinion on the effectiveness and usefulness of the
learning experience I gathered from the learning. I also reflected on the usefulness of the learning
along with the process of learning. At the end of the reflective journal, I mentioned the
application of the learning in the real world in future life.
The learning process was detailed and systematic in order. The schedule of learning was
set accordingly. The learning involved various steps that are topic selection, planning,
scheduling, secondary research, objective identification and the other steps taken for the
completion of the research. The topic that I researched on could be considered as the topping
where I learned various aspect of the chosen topic. According to me, there can be no proper way
of judging the value of this learning as the knowledge gained is applicable to various ways and
aspects in life.
The course taught me about the business ethics that needs consideration during the
research. I had followed the ethical guideline learned from the course to identify the objectives
and the scopes of the research that is what I can find from the research. After the identification, I
had to prepare a proper plan of carrying out the research where I had to prepare a time schedule,
select methods necessary for the research followed by the literature review. It is useful for the
research work as it develops the theoretical base for the research as well as the conceptualization
of the situation over time. This was the toughest part in my learning, as I had no prior knowledge
of making plan for a research. I made several mistakes before formulating a proper and ordered
research plan. In the literature review part, my goal was to read the works already conducted by
several scholars over time on thee particular topic. I gained skills and knowledge of performing

2REFLECTIVE
the task through my learning in lecture three. It the lecture also explained the necessity of
performing the task in the business research. I learnt various advantages and disadvantages of
obtaining the outsourcing of business function in various industries. The sections I focused on
were accounting, computer services, human resources, and the function of sales and marketing.
This process gained me knowledge over the topic and enabled me to form the hypothesis and
research questions that will lead me throughout the research. However, this was not an easy task
to formulate hypothesis and research question. I had to go through a huge number of researches
to base my knowledge on the research topic. Some of them were confusing and did not have
clear conclusion. Here, I had to carefully select and distinguish the important articles from the
unnecessary ones. I also had to identify the limitations of the research to coping with them.
Various qualitative and quantitative research methodology was also a part of the research
learning and implemented in the process. I learned about various steps of interviewing,
analyzing, formulating question for structured, semi-structured, and unstructured interviews and
many other skills. Qualitative data analysis is also a part of the research that comes at the end of
the schedule.
In the course, I observed various advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing business
function. It enables the companies to reduce the cost of the activity and input of labour and time
for a particular function that is being outsourced. Whereas, the business losses its partial control
over its functionality. Moreover, the confidentiality of various business data has to be shared
with the partner company that is a possible threat for the company. Hence, according to my
knowledge and understanding, the businesses in any industry should consider outsourcing their
functions from coping up with the pace of competition. However, they should consider
outsourcing the functions that are less confidential and might possess severe threat to the

3REFLECTIVE
organization. The thorough research in the process enabled me to make such a statement. This
knowledge is definitely going to help me to take more solid decisions in my organization.
The process of selection of the course is quite simple for me, as I required understanding
the aspect of outsourcing in any business. Outsourcing the business functions has many
advantages and disadvantages that I learnt from the course and it facilitates in speeding up the
business process. However, I came across various challenges and obstacles during the course
period. Simultaneously, the process of learning was quite interesting as I got to learn the methods
of writing proposal.
This learning is applicable in several stages of life, not only in the professional but also in
the personal everyday life. The significant knowledge that I received from the learning are
planning, scheduling, secondary research and secondary data analysis, methodologies in research
and none the less outsourcing business function. The first three of the above can both be
implemented in the general life or future career. For example, I can now better plan events in my
life like birthday planning, trip planning and many more. In the mean time, I can plan my work
and arrange them in proper order. The scheduling enabled me to set time for the task and arrange
them in priority order. Research on the other hand is always necessary to conduct before making
any decision. We try our best to learn and assume about the consequences of the action that we
are going to take. Furthermore, it is an integral part of the work place to plan and schedule any
given task before starting the task. Moreover, a proper research needs to be conducted on the
work before proceeding with the task. The knowledge of the topic selected will facilitate me in
considering the section of the organization that needs outsourcing basing on the ration of
advantages and disadvantages it will bring. Suppose I am working in a retail business. Hence,

4REFLECTIVE
social media marketing is a process that can show potential benefit if it is outsourced. Likewise,
accounting in that case will possess potential threat in the business.
It can be concluded from the above discussion that the learning process shows potential
use in the future life in both the personal and corporate life. It is person specific how one will
implement the knowledge gain in their future life. As per my understanding, this will help me in
both the parts in taking any decision. I am now able to think of the rationales and take decisions
accordingly. It will also facilitate me if I decide to undergo similar learning process as I have
already gained the knowledge of research. It will be much easier and less time consuming for me
to plan and carryout the research.