Reflective Journal: Management, VU Capabilities, and ALH Group

This reflective journal analyzes a student's experience as a gaming and food and beverage attendant at ALH Group, focusing on the development and application of VU graduate capabilities within the hospitality industry. The journal explores the relevance of university studies to the student's role, examining how course concepts and theories are utilized in the workplace. The student reflects on their learning journey, employing Gibbs' reflection framework to evaluate experiences and skill development, particularly in areas such as communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and cultural understanding. The analysis highlights the importance of continuous self-improvement and how the acquired skills contribute to the student's goal of becoming a manager. The journal incorporates references to academic sources to support the reflections and insights.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Usage and Development of the graduate capabilities through my role:....................................3
Relevance of University studies:................................................................................................4
Reflection of my learning:.........................................................................................................5
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................6
References:.................................................................................................................................7
Bibliography:..............................................................................................................................8

2MANAGEMENT
Introduction:
The significance of the graduate capabilities is observed to be immense for operating
in a successful manner in the world of business. The demands of the employment skills and
the technical knowledge amongst the employees are observed to be significant and under
such situation, the scope of the achieving the knowledge from the graduation course
curriculum becomes important for the employees. With a precise focus on the dynamics of
the hospitality industry, it is evident that the service quality of the companies have greater
significance for the sustainability of the business operations of the companies. The intense
level of competition faced by the organizations operating in the hospitality industry requires
high level of service excellence from the part of the companies for maintaining the
sustainability of their business operations and under such situation, the employees have the
necessity to continuously improve their skills and competencies. Having said that, the
employees operating in the hospitality industry have the necessity to apply their graduate
skills which increases their ease in managing their operational activities.
The paper is focused in analysing the usage of my VU graduate capabilities in
successfully managing my operations in ALH group of hospitality. I work there as the
Gaming and food and beverage attendant and I have the objective of continuing my career in
the hospitality industry. While operating in the mentioned industry, I have the objective of
gathering the much required experience which will enable me to successfully work in the
position of the manager. Along with this, the paper is also directed to evaluate the importance
of my university studies in decreasing the difficulty associated with my current profession.
Other than this, the paper also includes an important assessment regarding my learning over
the time with the application of the Gibbs’ reflection framework.

3MANAGEMENT
Usage and Development of the graduate capabilities through my role:
During my studies in the Victoria University, I am able to develop strong capability
and adaptability towards effective communication. Okoro, Washington and Thomas (2017)
claimed that the application of the communication skills play a significant role for creating a
better working environment and at the same time, it has the potential to improve the team
performances. The importance of the team performances in the modern hospitality industry is
observed to be significant as it helps the companies in managing the excessive work pressure
in an efficient manner. According to Verma and Pande (2013), the strong communication
skills also help the workforces in managing their conflicts in an effective manner and the
efficient management of the conflicts insider the workforces is crucial for reducing the job
stress and the work dissatisfaction of the employees. Considering my role, the strong and
effective communication has the capability to increase my ability in managing the customer
queries in an improved manner and at the same time, the strong communication skill is be
significantly helpful for me in managing the co- ordination with the other employees of the
company.
Along with that, my graduate capabilities are observed to be aligned with the ability
of working collaboratively. In addition to this, my studies during the graduation enabled me
to achieve the knowledge regarding various techniques for managing the complex problems
and that certainly places me in an advantageous position when it comes to handling not so
manageable customers. It would be controversial to overlook the contribution of my work in
improving the mentioned skill. With a precise focus on my operations, I have the
responsibility of evaluating the information regarding the stock of the food and beverages and
report that to the stock managers. The mentioned activity certainly increased my anticipatory
skills which provides me onsiderable amount of advantage compared to other individuals
while managing the unpredictable problems. Other than this, my activities inside the

4MANAGEMENT
organization helps me in a significant manner in developing a strong interpersonal
communication skill. The development of the sound interpersonal skill is significantly crucial
for me in managing my operations in the development of the community networks globally
and locally. Along with this, my operations in the company provides me sufficient amount of
scope for developing the much required skills that assess the role of the culture in the team
performances. At the same time, the development of the strong cultural intelligence has the
capability to influence my ability in reaching towards my desired managerial job position.
Being a manager, it becomes significantly important to recognize the contribution of all
individuals and at the same time, the job position increases the need of respecting the
diversity present in the workforce. Hence, the necessity of the mentioned skill is pretty
prominent.
Apart from this, one of my important graduate capabilities were being confident and
at the same time, the urge of continuously developing myself as an efficient professional. The
mentioned capability is crucial for the success of mine in executing my operational activities.
The urge of improving the quality of my services is observed to be notably crucial for my
successful operations in the company. With a precise consideration towards the dynamics of
the hospitality industry, it is evident that the companies are facing the need of delivering their
services in accordance to the comments of the customers and under such situation, it becomes
important for the employees to make sure that they are open towards the improvement of
their skills and competencies. Hence, my urge of continuous improvement is significantly
crucial for increasing my suitability in the company.
Relevance of University studies:
From the university, I was able to gather considerable number of learning such as the
incorporation of the business ethics in managing my operational activities, considering the

5MANAGEMENT
cultural differences and the diversity amongst the individuals with sufficient amount of
respect, efficient decision making, collaboration with the other individuals, creative idea
development and along with that, I also learned to be confident and communicate in an
effective manner. All these activities helped me in managing my operations at my workplace
and at the same time, they also provide me sufficient level of skills for improving my abilities
for the achievement of the managerial position. The skills of cultural integration enable me to
improve my ability to contribute in the team performances. On the other hand, the ability to
contribute with the creative ideas help me in increasing the effectiveness of the service that I
provide to the customers of the company. Other than this, the ability to collaborate with the
other individuals enable me in improving my bond with the other employees. This certainly
increases the team performances and the ease in sharing the excessive work pressure amongst
the employees. Along with this, one of the important learning of my graduate capabilities is
observed to be the ability of the efficient decision making. The reflection of the mentioned
skill is pretty prominent in managing my operational activities and that is evident with the
capability of participative decision making that we are able to achieve in forming our
operational activities. The achievement of the capability of efficient decision making is
significant in managing our work pressure in an efficient manner.
Reflection of my learning:
With a precise focus towards my objective of becoming the manager, I have gained
the relevant skills through variety of the experiences. Some of the important skills that I have
gained for becoming an efficient manager are the creative thinking skills. With a precise
focus towards my learning of the creative thinking, I faced the necessity of having multiple
number of solutions as the variation of the business environment has the possibility of
blocking the application of a particular solution. So being an efficient manager, I had the
necessity of having multiple number of suitable options so that the smooth execution of the

6MANAGEMENT
operational activities is not affected. With a precise focus on the “feelings” stage, I gained the
knowledge that the urge of finding out the correct solution effectively minimizes the ability
of creative thinking as the identification of a pool of suitable solutions is the most important
aspect in creative thinking. Considering the “evaluation” stage (Pianpeng and Koraneekij
2016), I found out that my rule consciousness, emotions along with the lack of the creative
thinking practices have the potential to affect my ability of creative thinking. Hence the
repetitive practices of the creative thinking techniques along with the effective management
of the emotions and rule consciousness are observed to be much needed. With a precise focus
on the “analysis” stage (Bassot 2016), I understood the practices of brainstorming activities
will be crucial for my success in improving my ability of creative thinking. Considering the
“conclusion” stage, I understood the importance of applying the other techniques for
improving my capability of creative thinking. With a precise focus on the fact, I identified
that the practices of the six thinking hats or the Osborn checklists will be significant for my
success in improving my skills of creative thinking.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it is visible that the graduate capabilities that I achieved from
Victoria University are significant for my improvement of skills. At the same time, the
application of the majority of the graduate capabilities played a crucial role in decreasing the
difficulty associated with my operations as the gaming, food and beverage attendant. On the
other hand, my work experiences also improved my certain abilities for the successful
management of my operation al activities.

7MANAGEMENT
References:
Bassot, B., 2016. The reflective journal. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Okoro, E., Washington, M.C. and Thomas, O., 2017. The Impact of Interpersonal
Communication Skills on Organizational Effectiveness and Social Self-Efficacy: A
Synthesis. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 4(3), pp.28-32.
Pianpeng, T. and Koraneekij, P., 2016. Development of a Model of Reflection Using Video
Based on Gibbs's Cycle in Electronic Portfolio to Enhance Level of Reflective Thinking of
Teacher Students. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 6(1), p.26.
Verma, D. and Pande, N., 2013. Exploratory Study of Most Critical Business Communication
Skills. International Journal of Management & Information Technology, 7(3), pp.1101-1109.

8MANAGEMENT
Bibliography:
Alhgroup.com.au 2019. ALH Group. ALH Group. [online] Available at:
https://www.alhgroup.com.au/#home
Ashari, H.A., Heidari, M. and Parvaresh, S., 2014. Improving SMTEs’ business performance
through strategic use of information communication technology: ICT and tourism challenges
and opportunities. International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and
Management Sciences, 4(3), pp.1-20.
Buted, D.R., Felicen, S.S. and Manzano, A.I., 2014. A correlation study between student
performance in food and beverage services course and internship in F&B Department of
Hospitality Business. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social
Sciences, 4(6), p.54.
Dotong, C.I., 2014. School–Related Factors in the Development of Graduates’ Competencies
towards Employability. Journal of Education and Literature, 2(1), pp.28-36.
Iqbal, A. and Zenchenkov, M., 2014. Market Tested Business Education: Corporate Sector
Perceptions of Saudi Graduates Competencies. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative
Education, 15(2), pp.91-106.
Keyton, J., Caputo, J.M., Ford, E.A., Fu, R., Leibowitz, S.A., Liu, T., Polasik, S.S., Ghosh, P.
and Wu, C., 2013. Investigating verbal workplace communication behaviors. The Journal of
Business Communication (1973), 50(2), pp.152-169.
Kokt, D. and Strydom, A.J., 2014. Reflecting on industry and student expectations for
working in the tourism and hospitality industry: A case study. South African Journal for
Research in sport, physical education and recreation, 36(1), pp.119-130.

9MANAGEMENT
Royle, J. and Laing, A., 2014. The digital marketing skills gap: Developing a Digital
Marketer Model for the communication industries. International Journal of Information
Management, 34(2), pp.65-73.
Shikuri, R.M. and Chepkwony, P.C., 2013. Entrepreneurial challenges facing the hospitality
industry in Kericho County—Kenya. Journal of Business and Economics, 4, pp.1159-1169.
Vu.edu.au 2019. Victoria University | Melbourne Australia. Victoria University | Melbourne
Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.vu.edu.au/