MBA Capstone Reflective Essay: A Journey of Skill Development

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ASSESSMENT 3- REFLECTIVE ESSAY
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................3
SUMMARY OF LEARNING AND SKILLS........................................................................4
REFLECTION- CAPSTONE SUBJECT...........................................................................6
REFLECTION ON SKILLS DEVELOPED DURING MBA................................................8
REFLECTION- FUTURE CAREER................................................................................10
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................... 12
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
Through the MBA Capstone study, I have gained practical business relevance so as to
transit the business world. Through the capstone strategy business job demands are
effectively met catering to the needs of theoretical, applied, practical and reflective
aspects. During my MBA various skills have been gained based on the business work
experience and business backgrounds. I also have attained the four essential skills
under capstone subject which has helped me to a great extent in attaining the future
managerial decisions and conquer future endeavours.
This reflective essay will help me in looking back on the skills gained and learning
through the capstone subject and will reflect the skills developed during my MBA course
ensuring my efficiency and effectiveness as a future practitioner in the workplace. This
reflective essay will be conducted by applying KDB and will look back at the
experiences, mindset, behaviours, skills and attitudes gained.
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SUMMARY OF LEARNING AND SKILLS
Knowing-Doing-Being framework undertakes all the aspects of management and
leadership and helps in guiding its working in practice. Through this framework, the
need for all-round development, capabilities, personal awareness and technical
knowledge is recognised (Holmes et al., 2005).
Figure 1: Knowing-doing-being framework
(Source: Nutley et al., 2003)
Knowing
I have gained a great competency over the theories and methods that are vital for the
effective management of organisations. This aspect has helped me in conquering how
well the theories help in attaining the desired aims and objectives of an organisation and
helped me in effective healthcare management (Holmes et al., 2005). I have learned a
lot towards decision making by analysing the organisational design and ensure better
coordination thereafter in an organisation. This has boosted my analytical as well as
analysing skills.
Doing
In doing competence the expertise gained by me falls under practical application which
can be applied to real situation. This has boosted my innovative skills and has helped
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me to apply theoretical perspectives in practical or real situations. This has also helped
me in encouraging innovation and managing risks through practical applications
(Holmes et al., 2005).
Being
Under this competency, I have gained much of self-knowledge regarding the subject
matter as well as the aspects that are needed in a work-related context. It involves my
personal values and goals that lead me to the path of success while working in future on
a specific job role. It has helped me to work beyond expectations.
Capstone subject learning summary
Capstone subject has provided me with opportunities for my personal development and
skills such as reasoning, evaluating and analysing as a result received a boost. I have
been better able to now make sound judgements undertaking critical thinking process
(Paterson and Gamtso, 2017). Through this subject, I have now become more aw3are
of the diversity of the norms, assumptions and values which has assisted me in my
sound judgements and helped in enhancing the overall thinking (Tanaka et al., 2018). I
have been able to now stay thoughtful and mindful in terms of the limitations, objectives,
goals and so on and it has helped me in looking back at my experiences effectively
through reflection. This, therefore, has helped me in gaining a better understanding of
the questions asked.
I have been better able to meet my objective of accessing the applicability and
relevance of the theory of the management to the practical world and has extended my
perspectives to multidimensional while decision making (Paterson and Gamtso, 2017).
Thus through the capstone course, I have effectively attained my objectives and able
effectively developed four skills namely reflective, applied, theoretical and applied skills.
Through the capstone strategy, I have been able to meet my objective of developing a
strategic mindset in the changing and dynamic environment. This has helped me in
preparing myself for the competitive advantage and to learn the integration of the
functional knowledge in an organisation (Holmes et al., 2005).
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REFLECTION- CAPSTONE SUBJECT
Due to the capstone strategy course, I have been able to better prepare myself for
future business practice and has helped me in emphasising on the objectives of
developing a better understanding of the balance between the internal competencies
with that of the external requirements (Paterson and Gamtso, 2017). I have been now
well versed with the dependencies in the functional units such as marketing, finance,
operations and human resources in an organisation and have been able to now
practically deal with the same. The reflection of capstone subject can be better
presented by four essential heads of skills that I learnt from it such as theoretical,
applied, reflective and practical skills. Each of these skills has helped in their own way in
my learning and skills for better practitioners (Martin and Strawser, 2017).
Theoretical skills
Under theoretical skills, insights have been gained by me reacted to the functions, cross
functions and various business disciplines. I have also grasped many concepts through
theoretical lenses and thus been able to integrate the soft as well as hard skills required
in analysing the business problems (Goodloe, 2015).
Applied skills
These skills are the ones that have added to the abilities development related to each
functional area of business and to deal with the financial performance of the business
(Martin and Strawser, 2017). I have gained many aspects and actions under applied
skills that have made me proficient enough in using the information such as financial
information, internal strengths, and externalities that may affect the business in future.
This, therefore, helps me in applying the information in such a manner that helps
effective business decision making (Kachra and Schnietz, 2008). Under applied skills, I
have explored various business models and have conducted several analyses from
different perspectives which have also helped me in drawing out conclusions for the
same. Through the applied skills I have also able to discuss the limitations of the
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resources during my MBA and have been able to find viable solutions to the business
problems (Goodloe, 2015).
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Practical skills
These skills are those which have helped me in the development of the skills of applying
the applied skills and theoretical skills in ambiguous situations so as to overcome the
business problems. I have also been able to map out the prospective impacts of real-life
situations and the businesses by effective analysing the practical realities (McGuire et
al., 2009).
Reflective skills
During the capstone course, I also have gained many skills that fall under reflective
skills. I have been able to gain much control over my core values, beliefs, assumptions
and future learning styles. I have attained the objectives of learning about the subject
and myself (Goodloe, 2015). By gaining deeper insights within me I have been able to
reflect on myself and have also helped me in understanding wider societal aspects in
which the business operates.
As a result, I have been able to better inculcate in me in better critical thinking that has
helped me in the opening to understanding from various viewpoints and consider the
other aspects too (McGuire et al., 2009). I have developed sound reasoning and now I
am better able to conduct an evaluation of the information which helps me in arriving at
best solutions possible. It also helped me in conducting self-examination to draw out
alternatives and support the facts.
Thus I have attained many of the skills and learning from the Capstone subject that has
helped me in my long term learning and in my personal development. Through skills
learnt by me under the capstone subject, I will be better able to apply the same in my
future job role as well (Goodloe, 2015).
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REFLECTION ON SKILLS DEVELOPED DURING MBA
Knowing the competence of field has helped me in attaining the insights over the
political environment and theoretical knowledge of the leadership in teamwork. I also
have gained better knowledge about the attitudes and the effective utilisation of
technology in a work-related context (Kachra and Schnietz, 2008). Through knowing
during my MBA course I have received much knowledge regarding the concepts and
theories that have helped me to gain subject-related expertise and has helped me in
adding to my experience the skills such as better finance resource utilisation and
management skills. Through gaining the theoretical skill I have been able to provide
better recommendations in the work context by conducting an effective analysis of the
business environment.
In doing competence I have gained many skills through practical applications during my
MBA. One of the skills gained was a preparation of internal as well as external analysis
of organisation keeping in mind the conditions affecting an organization. I can now plan
and manage strategies and lead the changes in the organisation. I can now better
inspire and encourage my team through effective communication skills (Kachra and
Schnietz, 2008).
Being the competence field has strengthened my decision-making skills which were
gained by self-realisation and self-reflection in particular situations. Through self-
reflection, the competencies have been gained by me during my MBA by better
analysing my values and looking inside my core values and goals that have acted as a
roadmap for my future accomplishments (Goodloe, 2015).
During my MBA I have gone through the group activities as well wherein I have attained
many competencies over the skills such as team building and development. As I was
the part of a team activity where my teammates were from different cultural
backgrounds and so I have faced many difficulties as well (Raber Hedberg, 2009).
During my group activity initially, I faced a few issues such as differences in thoughts
and understandings. There were issues of time management and communication gap.
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Later with the help of team development model, I was better able to manage these
changes and I was able o now better cooperate with the other members. This has
boosted my management skills wherein now I am able to gain better coordination with
people from different backgrounds and cultures. Through my group activities, I have
developed an understanding with each other and has helped me to think from others
perspective too (Raber Hedberg, 2009). This has helped me in learning various things
and I am now well versed with how to manage the time effectively. I have gained much
control over the use of words and phrases in different languages during my course. This
will help me in future work related context as well and will help me in better
communicating with the stakeholders from different backgrounds and will ensure my
business success as well. Through these learning gained from the group activities, I can
better conquer my future achievements as well (Raber Hedberg, 2009).
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REFLECTION- FUTURE CAREER
During my Capstone subject and the MBA course have attained many specific skills that
have helped me in becoming an effective and competent practitioner in the workplace.
In order to ensure my success in future career through the skilled and abilities gained
during my study experience, I will apply them in real work-related situations as well
(Peltier et al., 2005).
Through the theoretical and practical skills gained under capstone subject, I will foster
future success being me as a future manager in any organisation. I have learned the
management and analytical skills that will help me in supporting the decisions of the
organisation (Nutley et al., 2003). Through the applied skills and practical skills gained I
am competent enough to effectively deal with dynamic situations and work-related
context by applying the theoretical aspects in real situations and then boost the
performance of the business (Lang and McNaught, 2013). Through my effective
communication skill, I will be better able to communicate with my seniors and other
stakeholders of the company that will help me in becoming better presentation and will
help in ensuring the desired objectives on time.
In my future career, the group activities and the assessments done by me will help me
in applying the skills and knowledge gained during my study tenure and will help to cope
with the business problems. Through the mindset attained by me during my reflective
learning has also helped me in gaining control over my attitudes, skills and behaviours
that will help me in my future career as well (Nutley et al., 2003).
As future manager of an organisation, I will now be better able to ensure effective
decision making by communicating effectively and reflecting on my own capabilities in
different situational contexts. In future career, the reflection skills will help me in drawing
out maps for future developments and will help me to prepare myself for future
challenges as well. I will be more confident in work-related context as now I was better
able to apply the skills in an organization which has boosted my confidence (Raber
Hedberg, 2009).
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