Reflective Journal: Overcoming Challenges in Domino's Analysis

This reflective journal documents a student's experiences during a consumer behavior analysis project focused on Domino's. The journal details several challenges encountered, including self-doubt, lack of team coordination, difficulties in collecting field data through surveys and interviews, and the struggle to complete the assignment within the stipulated timeframe. The student reflects on how each challenge was addressed, emphasizing the importance of self-motivation, clear communication, and effective time management. Specific strategies like introductory team meetings, establishing communication hierarchies, and conducting regular progress updates are discussed. The journal concludes with a critical evaluation of the project, highlighting personal drawbacks and areas for future improvement, underscoring the value of reflective practices in project planning and execution. Desklib provides similar solved assignments and resources for students.

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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1. Introduction
Reflective writing is by far one of the most potential tools for assessing
an individual’s progress during a project, assignment or a research. It
also helps in reflecting oneself from a personal perspective to reflect
upon one’s own progress and flow of work. A reflective assignment
allows one to make sense of the learning, rather than just memorizing. It
enables a person, be it a student, researcher or an individual at work, to
ask questions, clear confusions, and develop rational logic towards the
work they are engaged in. It creates everlasting interest for the
knowledge and work and inculcates interest in their learning processes
for their life time.
Reflection is a vital perspective necessary for in depth analysis of a
research or an project. Without the reflective analysis of the self there
can be no amount of the creativity and originality in the learning process
and a complete sense would not develop which build the basis of any task
or assignment that is being done. According to Boud (2001) reflection
are the intellectual and effective processes which engage an individual to
explore their experiences in evaluating and making apprehensions about
a particular domain of work (Robbins, 2007).
This reflective journal was written during the consumer behaviour
analysis of Dominoes, the pizza joint. During the market research of the
company, me and my team formulated a plan to initiate, execute and
conclude the survey and associated interviews to gather information and
data required for the research. This reflective journal is my account of
the whole arrangement and describes the challenges that I faced, the
way I overcame them and the challenges that were most demanding and
exhausted my mental resources to the greatest extent. This journal

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
therefore also keeps an account of the task that we undertook and the
way it was executed over the time frame.
2. The challenges
Among the several challenges that were faced by me, the most excruciating was the self doubt.
This was also the one that exhausted me to the greatest extent. Apart from that coordination
among team members were initially an issue, intercommunication between us and the customers
was also a challenge. The fourth challenge that I faced was completing the assignment in
stipulated time. I have tried my best to record my personal experiences in an unbiased manner to
retain the originality of the situations. Thereafter I have also provided the way I handled them
and successfully ended the assignment.
2.1 Self-Doubt
The first hurdle in the journey was definitely my self-doubt, and was the strongest of all. Prior to
the initiation of the project, I was in a dilemma to initiate the processes due to certain self
constraints. My team members had informed me their limitations and I was quite confused to
figure out the process of the whole assignment. Along with I was pretty confused to choose the
resources and the way to adequately us them. Simultaneously the scale of our project was quite
enormous with lot of field surveys and interviews. Wrapping that up in time was a challenge
which initiated the self doubt within me.
Being the team leader I had responsibilities and commitment to guide my team properly and
adequately. The arrangement of the team was initially loose and I decided to have short
interactions with my team members at the personal level. After the initial background study of

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
the company I called for short sessions with my team to brief them about the plan. This boosted
my self confidence and kept the ball rolling till the end. The success of the project was initially
bothering me but with the initiation of the ground task, I gained confidence about the work and
focused in the qualitative aspect rather worrying about the success of the project. The most
important decision that I feel changed the way I perceived the project were the field meetings
that I initiated at the end of our days work. The field meetings provided an update about the
progress of the work and the immediate plans were unfolded regularly by sorting out the
priorities. This created a lot of difference in the work environment among us. The other
challenges of coordination and intercommunication were also managed effectively through the
field meeting exercise. Thus once my-self doubt was relieved, a major portion of the task was
eventually done, since self confidence removes major obstacles in the way of an endeavour.
2.2 Lack of coordination
The second challenge that was faced by me was building coordination
among the team. This was a very critical issue that I faced while
introduction with my team. The team members had personal issues that
created obstacles in the way of coordination among them. The team
members not able to gel with themselves and the meetings had to be
extended to coincide the schedule for everyone for a single discussion. This
posed a serious barrier in the progress of the work and needed to be
promptly sorted out to avoid failure in achieving our targeted output. I
handled this issue with competence. After the introductory meet, I called up
the volunteers for a official meeting wherein I briefed them about the basic
rules and regulations that would be followed by all the team members to
complete the task. I created a hierarchy of communication where by every
individual was assigned a responsibility according to their capabilities and
were given a time frame to revert back to me. I initiated cooperation among

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the team to foster greater bonding and unity among the team members and
to inculcate a sense of collectiveness with the team. The greater bonding of
the team was initially developed after few sessions. It was a constant
challenge for me to motivate myself and my team regularly to keep up the
spirit and make the errand a success. The most critical challenge was
creating the coordination
among the team members which when achieved paves the way for
fulfillment of any errand. The coordination bonding became interdependent
which made every individual member responsible for completion of the task.
2.3 Interaction with the Samples
The next challenge that posed a serious challenge was collection of field data from survey and
interviews that were to be conducted. The initiation of the task seemed easy after addressing the
first two challenges, but with the initiation of field data collection, we faced several issues that
were typical to the field and we were not ready to face them initially. Persuading customers for
the survey was not always an easy task. Scheduling the interviews with the managers was also
one of the issues due to non availability of comfortable time frame. There were certain other
issues like the time required for completion of a single survey exceeded than estimated during
the plan. The number of samples surveyed was also reduced due to the time constraint. These
issues were posing a challenge to the whole team and for the project. We settled this concern by
managing time effectively and started surveying samples on the extra time apart from surveying
with the team. This point of the project brought out the best of the team members and fostered
the bonding of the team members. The team members took out extra time from the schedule and
conducted surveys. The interview schedules were also distributed among the team members
based on the voluntary responsibilities. The regular motivation sessions those were conducted
also helped in boosting the exhausting surveying schedules.

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
2.4Timely completion of the assignment
With changing challenges every day during the course of the project, the time frame got
extended with time. Certain exercises and tasks needed to be rescheduled everyday which
prolonged the ground tasks. This eventually led to the extension of the following works. The
tabulation and analysis of the data obtained had to be completed in a very tight frame. Several
processes got eventually delayed with the delay in the work due to unpredictable challenges.
However, this was sorted out by chalking out a work plan within the stipulated time. The final
phase of the work was planned collectively and the project was framed under a common roof
which allowed the ease of work and increased efficiency. The collective effort and management
of time eventually managed the work in time but at a great personal dedication from every
individual member of the team. This was not possible without a collective effort and personal
commitment.
The
Challenges
Specific Difficulties The Overcome Methods
Self-Doubt
1. Self low esteem prior
to initiation of the
project due to lack of
clarity about the
process.
2. Fear of being
unsuccessful with the
task.
 Initiated
introductory meets.
 Planned the whole
project in a project
plan and briefed the
team which boosted
the initial
confidence.
Lack of
coordination
1. Lack of
communication
among the team
members.
 Initiated basic
regulatory measures
for all members.
 Started field

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2. Lack of timely
participation in the
introductory meet.
meetings and
interactive sessions
prior to the initiation
of the project and
during the project.
Interaction
with the
samples.
1. The difference in time
schedules with the
store managers and
the interviewers.
2. The lack of interest
among the samples
for the survey.
3. Collecting adequate
no. of samples for the
survey.
 Distributed the
interview schedule
with voluntary
responsibility and in
accordance with the
managers.
 The survey was
conducted
collectively and
individually to
gather as much
samples as possible.
 Working out of the
schedule to meet the
required data sets.

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
Timely
completion of
the
assignment.
1. Extension of the
interviews and the
surveys due to
unavailability of
samples.
2. Tight time frame to
complete post
production of the field
survey.
 Divided the team
into groups to
conduct different
responsibilities.
 Collective effort was
initiated to complete
the task in the
stipulated time.
Table 1: A summation of the challenges.
3. The most challenging issues
The most critical and challenging issues I feel was the self-doubt, that I had within me and it
required the greatest effort from my inner self to motivate myself to take responsibility and
initiate the task. This was the first step towards commencing the assignment. This assignment
allowed me to retrospect and the first activities of the introductory meet helped me to the muster
my self confidence and boost the courage. The clarity of thought was generated with the
substantial progress and subsequent meets that were conducted. This initiated the courage and
self esteem within myself. The second challenge that I faced was on field, while on conduction
of the surveys and the interviews. Managing the schedules and rescheduling the plan according

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
to the daily challenges that cropped up was excruciating and exhaustive. The culmination of the
challenge occurred with interaction with the samples. According to Hinett & Varnava, (2002).
The lack of interest for participation, the shortage of proper samples according age groups and
the management of the schedule with the team members was a major challenge that required
exhaustive effort of the self and the team.
Conclusion
The reflective journal has not only allowed me to reconcile about my experiences but has also
allowed me to reflect and the ponder the way a project should be planned, implemented and
concluded to bring out effective results. The self reflection also points out my personal
drawbacks and the areas which I need to develop in order to conduct a similar project in the
future. The benefit of writing a reflective journal is that it keeps an account of the course of
action and allows for critical evaluation of the self even after the task is over. Reflection based
on the earlier experiences help to find the loopholes and thereby propose or plan adequately for
future actions. The reflective journal of any activity enriches the personal competence and
creates chances of self development and effective management.

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
References
Cisero, C. A. (2006). Does reflective journal writing improve course performance?. College
Teaching, 54(2), 231-236.
Boud, D. (2001). Using journal writing to enhance reflective practice. New directions for adult
and continuing education, 2001(90), 9-18.
Hinett, K., & Varnava, T. (2002). Developing reflective practice in legal education: Citeseer.
Robbins, T. (2007). Awaken the giant within: How to take immediate control of your mental,
emotional, physical and financial: Simon and Schuster.