MBA Capstone Reflective Essay: Skills, Learning, and Future Endeavors

This reflective essay, written by an MBA student, provides a comprehensive overview of their capstone project experience. The essay begins with a summary of reflective capability and learning, emphasizing the importance of reflective writing in understanding the course material and developing essential capstone skills such as teamwork, communication, problem-solving, and goal setting. It then delves into a personal reflection on the capstone subject and the consultancy research process, highlighting the application of various business management theories and tools like Porter’s Five Forces, SWOT, PESTLE, McKinsey 7S Model and Balanced scorecard. The student discusses the importance of data collection, analysis, and research design. Furthermore, the essay reflects on the skills developed throughout the MBA program, including strategic planning, human resource management, problem-solving, and teamwork, and how these skills will assist in future career endeavors. The student highlights the application of these skills in a corporate setting and their role in achieving future career goals.

Running head: CAPSTONE
Reflective Essay
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Introduction
Reflective learning is a process with help of which one can look back at the specific skills
and knowledge that they have gained while undertaking a course (Gould 2016). Reflective
learning and reflective writing is important in making a meaning out of the available materials
and the course (Gould and Taylor 2017). The reflective essay aims in discussing the experiences
that the students have gained through this capstone subject. The reflective essay focuses on
discussing and reflecting on the capability, learning, skills, mindsets and behavior of the students
who are enrolled in the MBA course.
The essay will be presenting a brief summary of the reflective capability and leaning
capability by discussing the essential capstone skills. The essay will further provide a personal
reflection on the learnings and knowledge gained from the capstone subject and consultancy
research process. The key aim of this reflection is to identify the areas and the experience that
will assist a student in his/her professional career. In the following paragraphs, the detailed
evidence of reflection to various skills and competencies are discussed.
1. Summary of Reflective Capability and Learning
A capstone project helps a student to culminate their learning by completing a research
project under supervision of a faculty advisor. This capstone subject have helped me to
understand the importance of a consultancy research process.
This course have enhanced my reflective capability along with the learning process.
Having an effective reflective capability and enhanced learning process is needed to fulfill the
essential criteria of capstone (Moore 2017). The capstone project mainly helps in identifying the

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capability of a student to demonstrate their learning process. I am quite confident about the
knowledge I have gained while undertaking this course.
There are certain key skills associated with capstone project and four of the most
essential capstone skills include team work, skill of effective oral communication, skill of
solving complex problems and goal setting. This course and the capstone subject has helped me
in achieving these essential capstone skills. The personal learning process has been quite
enriching and has helped me to solve the problem in an effective manner. This course have
improved my reflective capability and the learning process as an essential capstone skill. I have
understood the importance of the reflective learning process and the process in which skills,
attitudes, mindsets and behaviors can be managed to solve a problem in an effective manner.
While working on the research project that has been allocated to me, I have gained a detailed
understanding of the learning process. I am quite confident about the four essential capstone
skills that I have developed over MBA. I am confident that these capstone skill will help me to
improve the performance of my professional career as well. The learning process in this course
further includes the process in which a research study can be undertaken and can be successfully
executed (Thomas, Wong and Li 2014). The lecturer of week 9 have helped me to understand the
detailed steps that are associated with carrying out a research. The mandatory steps include,
identification of research problem, determination of research purpose, development of a
theoretical framework and research questions, identification of research limitation, defining the
methodology and determining the research outcome.
2. Personal Reflection on Capstone subject and consultancy research process

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The capstone subject has provided a detailed understanding of the various strategies and
concepts associated with business management. A diverse range of theories is evaluated in the
capstone subject (Schwering 2015). The knowledge that is gained from the capstone subject can
be applied in the real workplace context for improving the performance and the competitive
advantage of a business organization. The capstone subject have provided a detailed
understanding of planning and implementation of a strategy in management practice (Hoffman
2014). Planning and implementation of a strategy in management practice mainly requires
understanding of various tools and techniques, that include Porter’s Five Forces Model, SWOT
and PESTLE, McKinsey 7S Model and Balanced scorecard. The capstone subject is associated
with the consultancy research process. This course has provided the necessary help regarding the
needs and the necessities of the consultancy research process.
The subject has provided a detailed overview of the tools and technique that the firms use
to create the competitive advantage. A comprehensive overview of the strategy planning process
is obtained from the capstone subject and the consultancy research process. The consultancy
subject has provided a detailed understanding of the people, culture and contemporary leadership
(Whalley, Goldweber and Ogier 2017). The learning from this subject is integral in assessing the
process in which consumers’ behavior is linked with the business strategy. The course provides
an overview of the need of understanding the cause and effect capabilities of a business
organization along with the strategies that helps in determining the competitive advantage of a
business organization (Rhee et al. 2014). It becomes essential to define the critical success
factors to deliver a product or a process as per expectations.
The consultancy research process has provided a detailed understanding of the process of
data collection and data analysis. The key or the necessary considerations of the data analysis

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plan include identification of the research questions and development of hypothesis,
identification of the data set for secondary data, identification of the key variables for analysis
and identification of an effective measurement technique. There can be various sources of
datasets for two broad data types, which are primary data and secondary data. The qualitative
secondary datasets include research reports that are already published, thesis, books, focus group
transcripts, structured and semi structured interviews, government publications, whitepapers and
others (Hoffman 2014). While the source of quantitative secondary datasets include census,
health and welfare, government publications and Australian stock Exchange. Properly defining
the variable of a research is a necessary for success of a consultancy research project. The
consultancy research project have provided a distinctive idea of various statistical methods that
can be used for analyzing a research data (Hobson et al. 2014). These statistical methods include
content analysis, narrative analysis, discourse analysis, framework analysis and grounded theory.
I have obtained a detailed understanding of the different methods that can be used for analysis of
qualitative data.
The capstone subject and the consultancy research process have provided a detailed idea
of the key considerations of a research design proposal. One of the key needs of successful
completion of a research is to identify the research problem and for determining the research
purpose (Ahmad and Pesch 2017). The consultancy research process has helped in identification
of the research problems, identification of the purpose of the research, development of
theoretical framework, development of research questions and hypothesis, identification of the
research scope, deciding on methods and determining the expected outcome of the project. Apart
from that, the capstone subject have provided an overview of the various models of
organizational change and the process in which the complexity of the change can be defined

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(Bedwell, Fiore and Salas 2014). Thus, it can be said that the capstone subject and consultancy
research process have been a good learning experience for me as I have gained knowledge about
the different tools and techniques needed in execution of consultancy research project.
3. Personal Reflection on skill developed over the MBA
The MBA course has helped in developing certain skills that will be a great help in my
professional career. Through this course, I have gained an advanced knowledge about the real
workplace context, which will significantly helped me in improving my performance and gaining
competitive advantage in the organization I shall be working. The MBA course have helped me
in solving the complex business problems. Towards the start of this course, I have gained an
understanding of the strategic planning process, which is an effective technique of creating
competitive advantage. The strategic planning process involves formulation of the strategy and
implementing a structure in response to the prepared strategy. The MBA course have guided to
identify and estimate the key concepts associated with management of the human resource.
The MBA course have helped me gaining knowledge and skills of solving complex
business problems. Problem solving is integral to maintain the competitive advantage of a
company. Through this course, I have gained a detailed knowledge of process in which the
strategies of a company are identified and evaluated to gain competitive advantage. In this
context, the importance of McKinsey 7s model can be cited (Beenen, Pichler,and Davoudpour
2018). I have gained a knowledge about this framework in gaining the organizational
effectiveness. I have gathered the skill of using the Mckinsey 7S model for managing the internal
assets of an organization.

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Apart from gaining the skills and knowledge of managing the human resources, the
course have helped me in gaining a detailed understanding of process of positioning the
competition strategy (Silbiger 2016). Along with that, I have gained a knowledge about the
different capabilities and needs of business management, including the financial stability, cash
flow and capital management. The course have helped me understanding the process of
identifying the competitive strategies of an organization and utilizing the competitive strategies
sin gaining business advantages.
Another key skill that I have developed over MBA is the skills of working in a team.
Team work is a necessary skill that one needs to possess while working in the corporate world.
Team work is necessary in order to successfully execute a work that requires team effort (Ingols
and Shapiro 2014). In this course, I have gained the leadership skill and I am confident enough
that I shall be able to lead a team in an effective manner. The problem solving and the analytical
skill that I have gained through this course will help me in managing various problems in a
workplace. Over the MBA, I could brush up my interpersonal and the communication skills
along with the strategic thinking process. These two are the important skills in understanding and
managing the key business processes within the organization.
MBA focuses on time management. I have gathered the skill of time management from
this course. Having effective time management skill is quite necessary to plan and manage all the
internal processes running within an organization (Giambatista and Hoover 2014). All the skills
that I have gathered has strong application in corporate business process management. Therefore,
possessing these key competency skills is necessary for a MBA student and I have gained a
detailed understanding of all the mentioned tools (Mihail and Kloutsiniotis 2014). I am confident

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enough that I shall be able to make use of those tools in my professional career and these tools
will help me in fulfilling all the future endeavors.
4. Personal Reflection on how it will assist in future endeavors
The skill and knowledge that I have gathered over MBA will help me in fulfilling the
planned future career endeavors (Iyengar 2015). The skill of human resource management that I
have achieved in this course is necessary to appraise the performance of the employees to
manage the employees accordingly. Human resource management further deals with the issues
that employee face related to hiring, training, development and administration of the human
resource. If I work as an HR manager, this skill will be a great help in managing the human
resources of the company and will further help in effective administration of the human
resources.
The leadership skill that I have gained from this course will further help me in effective
management of the team work. The skills that I have gained from this course further include the
skill of effective team work management (Rubens et al. 2018). These two skills are interrelated
with the human resource management skills and are considered to be the key outcome of MBA.
These skills are essential to manage the internal work processes and the human resources of an
organization in an effective manner and hence I am quite sure that these skills will help me
achieve success in my future endeavors.
The business problem solving and the analytical skill will help me in gaining a detailed
understanding of the internal work problems and will help me in solving the same in a prompt
manner (Moldoveanu and Narayandas 2019.). Possessing an effective problem solving skill is
quite important in managing the decision making process within an organization (Buenviaje et

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al. 2016). This course have enhanced my decision making ability and it will contribute to
management of the critical decision making process within the organization. The MBA course
have helped me to enhance my interpersonal and communication skills (Ahmad and Pesch 2017).
It is quite necessary to maintain and effective communication with the team members to ensure
that key messages are rightly communicated and evenly communicated to all the team members.
This will act as a huge advantage in managing the work processes and also in managing the
team. This will be a huge advantage to my future endeavors.
Throughout the course, I have gained an understanding about various models that can
help in defining the team structure and also in management of the key work processes that are
given to an individual. In this course, I have realized the importance of taking an initiative for
solving a problem. The MBA course has helped me in understanding the importance of
adaptability to change. This will help in me adjusting with the work environment in future and
also will help me in working in a cross cultural team.
Thus, it can be concluded that the key skills, knowledge and understanding that I have
gained throughout this course will help me to deliver best performance in my professional career.
I am quite confident about my communication skills along with the listening skills and I am quite
sure that it will add to my strengths. The skills that I achieved through this course will be a great
help to work as per the expectations of my senior and will help me to set a mark in the corporate
world. I am quite confident that my future endeavors will be assisted by the key skills and
knowledge that I have gained through this course.
Conclusion

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The reflective essay has provided a brief overview of the reflective capability and the
learning processes in MBA course. The essay provides a discussion on the learnings associated
with the capstone subject and the entire consultancy research process. The essay provides an idea
of the personal reflection on the key skills that is developed over MBA. The skills that are
developed over MBA are expected to provide a necessary guidance to a student in their future
endeavors. The essay provides a detailed insight to the learnings from the course along with the
knowledge gained from the assessments undertaken. The essay provides a comprehensive
understanding of the expectations from a MBA student and the key skills that are necessary for
an MBA student to possess. The key skills that an MBA student is expected to possess include
the leadership skill, skill of effective communication, skill for managing the human resources
along with problem solving and analytical skills. These skills are necessary to manage an
organizational work process and further contributes to team management. The essay provides a
detailed idea of the learning process that a student experiences in MBA course.

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