LSST Graduate Challenge Report: Business Skills and Development

This report is a reflective journal detailing the challenges faced during coursework and the practical implementation of skills in a professional setting. It focuses on three major challenges: the apprentice challenge, presentation challenge, and t-shirt challenge. The report explores the development of key skills such as communication, teamwork, time management, and business acumen through these experiences. It analyzes each challenge from a business perspective, examining branding, finance, and Tuckman's theory on teamwork. Furthermore, it outlines an action plan for continued development and provides references to support the analysis. The report highlights the importance of these challenges in preparing individuals for successful careers and offers insights into how businesses function in the real world. The report is a student's contribution and is available on Desklib, a platform providing AI-based study tools for students.

Graduate Challenge

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Apprentice Challenge..................................................................................................................3
Presentation Challenge................................................................................................................4
T-Shirt Challenge.........................................................................................................................5
ANALYSIS OF EACH CHALLENGE FROM A BUSINESS ANGLE AND KNOWLEDGE
GAINED FROM ABOUT HOW BUSINESSES ACTUALLY WORK........................................5
Branding......................................................................................................................................5
Finance.........................................................................................................................................6
Tuckman’s Theory on Teamwork...............................................................................................6
ACTION PLAN...............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
A professional individual who is currently learning in an institution or have learnt a
appropriate professional course work through a reputed organisation goes through serial learning
and development. In professional study courses people not only learn their respective course
works and strategically aspects related to it but also moves towards learning skills and abilities
while facing number of challenges. The present report is a reflective journal will be showcasing
the journey of different challenges that are faced by an individual during their course work and
practical implementation of their abilities in professional world. Three major challenges that are
focused in this report that are apprentice challenge, presentation challenge and t-shirt challenge.
MAIN BODY
Apprentice Challenge
The first challenge which is focused and experienced is off apprentice challenge that I
faced while I was studying in London school of science and technology (LSST). The apprentice
challenge was introduced and came into my way when I was learning my course work in college
and developing respective skills according to my pathway towards the ultimate objective of my
career. The major skills which are developed through this challenge by taking it are as follows:
 Communication Skills- The occasions games rendered me an effective idea about its
importance. The ability to communicate effectively with others help me in sharing my
experiences and opinions with my peer group as well as in front of my tutors in the best
possible manner. Communication skills help me in developing better in directions and
conversations with others accept my friends and families.
 Team working Skills- The team working ability reflects the power of an individual to
work with others rather than being self dependent and working alone. Why you're going
through the apprentice challenge studying in my college I understood the importance of
working within a team for being successful in my professional field.
 Time Management- The abilities related to time management made me understand the
importance of scheduling all the tasks and dividing the available time in different
activities for accomplishing the goals and objectives. Time management skills assisted
me in developing better schedules and dividing my work according to the present time.

This is an ability which is not only helpful for me in short term but also in the longer
term.
 Business Skills- The Business games which I developed during my college and studies
going on in London school of science and technology are more strategic and tactical
information in regards to certain business capabilities. The business skills will help me to
lead my path towards having a successful career option in my preferred professional
field.
Presentation Challenge
I was going through the presentation challenge when I was working with Tesco retail
organisation. Tesco was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen as a small retail store on the street and
since then till today company have made a huge success as now it is known as the leading super
market retail chain in the industry and placed on the second position in the world. Tesco deals in
Retail industry with its supermarkets and other product offering chains like superstores,
hypestores etc.
 Communication Skills- The communication abilities which I grabbed while I was
working in Tesco a professional business organisation are more concerning to the
professional world.
 Team working Skills- In Tesco I also developed a better team working abilities as I was
a part of one team. As a team member I had the responsibility to work in the best possible
manner for accomplishing the common objective of the team by completing assigned
tasks in the given time and in the best possible manner.
 Time Management- The third ability which I learnt and grabbed while I was working in
Tesco and in a professional setting is of time management. When I was learning better
communication and team working skills it was critically highlighted that I need to learn
better time management skills as well to work in a competitive professional field.
Therefore, while I was working in a team with other members identified that everyone is
dependent on one another as their duties are interconnected. Hence, it is now more
important for me to be more critical in scheduling my tasks and activities as I need to
complete them in time for supporting others and the common objective of the team.
 Business Skills- In regards to my business skills the time of working in Tesco I
developed a more critical and strategic and knowledge about the different abilities and

requirements I need to have while I I am working in a business environment and a
professional world. The organisation helped me in improving and improvising my
business capabilities and actions.
T-Shirt Challenge
The third challenge is the t-shirt challenge, this arose when I was working in the
marketing team for designing a attractive t-shirt and marketing it on behalf of the entity. The t-
shirt challenge is more tactical and critical as it belongs to a respective division an activity which
I performed in my professional career. the skills which I developed through the challenge while
learning understanding more are as follows:
 Communication Skills- The aspect about my communication skills which I developed
while working on the t-shirt is that I need to learn more about being a better listener and
then becoming a better communicator.
 Team working Skills- My team management skills are strong enough but through this
activity of producing and marketing a t-shirt I found out that I need to develop better
conflict management skills for working in my team more productively.
 Time Management- While working in the team developed better time management
skills bye experiencing others practices and indulging them for improvisation in myself.
 Business Skills- While I was working on marketing plans for the tshirt I developed better
intellectual knowledge about the more specific capabilities that are practical enough to
deal in the business world.
ANALYSIS OF EACH CHALLENGE FROM A BUSINESS ANGLE AND
KNOWLEDGE GAINED FROM ABOUT HOW BUSINESSES
ACTUALLY WORK.
Branding
The first practical area where I utilised to my skills and competencies that are developed
during challenges I faced is of branding function. as being the part of marketing team branding is
one of the very critical and important area of work. I made use of my effective communication
skills for developing a creative branding Idea and presenting it in front of my superiors and
leaders.

Finance
Another function which utilised my capabilities and where I concentrated to utilise my
skills and showcase my talent that I developed during my past experiences of different
challenges use of Finance function. With the help of my tactical, practical, analytical and
strategical business skills developed understanding of Finance function which help to be in
developing relevant costing and budgeting documents for marketing of the t-shirt in the
respective marketplace and target audiences.
Tuckman’s Theory on Teamwork
The Tuckman’s team development theory is an analytical model which is used by leaders
and managers to develop a strong potential team in order to attain respective objectives and
targets for accomplishing and contributing towards the common goal of the entity. The model
has five stages that are elaborated below as follows:
 Forming is the first stage where the teams are established by leaders. At this stage we
were all lacking clear understanding of the main objective behind bringing us together in
a team.
 Storming is the second stage of the framework which is very critical and crucial to
develop a effective team. At this age people are highly dependent on leaders holding very
less understanding amongst each other and trust on one another. As well as at this stage
people do not have any understanding of the major objective behind the whole team.
 Norming is the stage where leaders play a major role by taking appropriate initiate is
understanding the team about as well as to build better understanding and trust among
team members.
 Performing is The fourth stage where employees are responsible for performing the
assigned duties and tasks according to their understanding and abilities for contributing
their part to the team and the common objective.
 Adjourning is the last stage which occurs and sometimes it does not occurs depending
upon the nature of the team. Teams are generally made for temporary purposes or for
permanent purposes. Which are developed for temporary purposes goes through the
adjourning stage where they are dissolved and people are sent back to their old positions.

ACTION PLAN
 Specific- To better presentation and listening abilities in order to become a better
communicator.
 Measurable- To attain the respective objectives by better performances and increase the
sales unit by 10% for the T-Shirts.
 Achievable- The target is a changeable with effective implementation of strong
marketing plans and utilising all my abilities from past experiences.
 Reliable- in order to make the plans more reliable I need to develop better creative and
innovative plans to market the T-Shirts as well as increased its sales in the market.
 Time frame- In upcoming 8 to 10 months.
CONCLUSION
In this report above the discussion is conducted over certain challenges an individual can
face while studying their coursework and gaining experiences which concludes the effectiveness
of the skills and abilities that a person gathers through different challenges they go by and
number of taxes adopted by them to improvise and overcome those challenges.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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graduate medical education. Ochsner Journal, 16(1), pp.101-107.
Hofler, L. and Thomas, K., 2016. Transition of new graduate nurses to the workforce:
Challenges and solutions in the changing health care environment. North Carolina
Medical Journal, 77(2), pp.133-136.
Karkar-Esperat, T. M., 2018. International graduate students’ challenges and learning
experiences in online classes. Journal of International Students, 8(4), pp.1722-1735.
Mok, K. H. and Jiang, J., 2017. Massification of higher education: Challenges for admissions
and graduate employment in China. In Managing international connectivity, diversity of
learning and changing labour markets (pp. 219-243). Springer, Singapore.
Mok, K.H. and Jiang, J., 2018. Massification of higher education and challenges for graduate
employment and social mobility: East Asian experiences and sociological
reflections. International Journal of Educational Development, 63, pp.44-51.