Industry Project: Reflective Journal - Analysis of Learning and Growth

This report presents a reflective journal based on an industry project, focusing on the author's experiences within the Simply Indian Restaurant in New Zealand. The report details the organizational structure, critical learning experiences related to customer service, and the development of essential skills. It highlights the importance of consistent communication, brand image enhancement through social media, and effective resource management. The author reflects on personal growth, feedback from an academic supervisor, and future career direction. The report also includes a work-ready curriculum vitae, showcasing acquired leadership and management skills, and providing references to support the analysis. The author's experiences in a cooperative education organization have significantly influenced their leadership skills, critical thinking, and ability to handle challenges, preparing them for future career endeavors.

Running head: INDUSTRY PROJECT
Industry project
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Host organization/ Industry Client.............................................................................................3
2.0 Situation reflection.....................................................................................................................4
2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................4
2.2 First critical learning experience............................................................................................4
2.3 Second critical learning experience.......................................................................................5
2.4 Third critical learning experience..........................................................................................5
3.0 Personal growth.........................................................................................................................5
3.1 Reflections on feedback from academic supervisor..................................................................6
3.2 Future Career Direction and Preparation for future...................................................................6
4.0 Work Ready Curriculum Vitae..................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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1.0 Introduction
The purpose of preparing the reflective journal is to identify the structure of the
organization, determine the skills and experiences that have been achieved by me during the
critical learning phase. I have chosen the sole trading company, because it is much easier to
determine how the company manages its human resources and how work has been organized
within the organization. The company that has been chosen here as the case study is Simply
Indian Restaurant in New Zealand (Simplyindian.co.nz, 2017).
1.1 Host organization/ Industry Client
The Simply Indian restaurant offers great quality fish curry, lamb corma and other Indian
snacks and sweet items that can fulfill the tastes and preferences of customers easily. One of the
major issues that was faced by the restaurant was lack of management and control of costs of
operations and processes. This deteriorated the profit level of the company largely too. The
company has a sole trading structure and because of this, it has been easy to set up and the starts
up costs were quite low as well (Arends, 2014). The business processes are controlled with much
ease and the profit is not shared with anyone.
The organization is located at 225 High Street, Lower Hutt central 5010, Wellington in
New Zealand. The company has 50 -60 staffs in total who have been employed within the
organization and provides fine dining experience to the customers. The work is managed within
the organization by keeping the workers motivated and encouraged to deliver high quality dining
experience through providing good quality food and discreet services. It also hosts private and

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corporate parties and events to attract more customers and enhance the profit level too (Howarth
& Fredericks, 2012).
2.0 Situation reflection
2.1 Introduction
I have managed to obtain a lot of skills and experiences based on critical learning about
how to handle the customers and ensure that good quality and proper services are delivered to
them for keeping them satisfied. I have been interacting with the customers at the cooperative
education organization for determining who have been unsatisfied with the kinds of services and
products delivered by the Simply Indian restaurant in New Zealand. Few of the customers have
dietary issues like allergies for certain food items or ingredients used to prepare the dish. One
such customer expressed concern and sense of dissatisfaction with the quality of food items by
showing aggressive behaviors towards the hotel staffs (Kirkwood & Price, 2014). There was also
a situation when a group of customers entered the restaurant just few minutes before its closure
and ordered the food items available in the menu that might take the longest time for preparation.
I have obtained relevant knowledge and skills to connect with the customers and make sure that
they are handled responsibly to create positive brand name and image. Collaboration of
employees and by combining charm, psychology, communication skills and impartial mediation
can help in delivering the best quality services and even motivate the employees to perform to
their potential. One of the challenges with the organizational culture was the inability to involve
all the team members and make people informed about its culture (Kolb , 2014).

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2.2 First critical learning experience
From my educational experience at the cooperative education organisation, I have learned
to maintain consistency while managing a good organizational culture. It is not only essential for
promoting good communication, but will also enhance my personal skills to handle the
customers properly. The messages delivered to the customers at the restaurant must be clear,
precise and consistent for making people know what are being sold and can keep them satisfied.
I need to create a good culture that can allow the staffs to communicate with each other and work
as a team for delivering the best quality services to people (Nosich, 2012).
2.3 Second critical learning experience
I have gathered experiences to enhance the brand image and for a new Indian restaurant
that has been established in New Zealand, it is important to improve the brand image and
identity. From my experiences, I have learned that social media is an essential aspect to create
successful business nowadays. The involvement of social networking websites can grab attention
of customers and generate good traffic, furthermore create brand awareness among the people
(Schön, 2015).
2.4 Third critical learning experience
My third learning experience was based on the utilization of resources and inventories to
increase the level of profit for Simply Indian restaurant in New Zealand. It is always important to
manage the needs of suppliers and conduct a food and beverage inventory to ensure that all the
resources are available properly and good quality food items are prepared to keep customers
satisfied and maximize the level of profit. I have also obtained relevant leadership skills to
organize the staffs by considering the views and opinions of the workers and make strategic
decisions aligned with the organizational goals and objectives (Simplyindian.co.nz, 2017).

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3.0 Personal growth
While being a part of the cooperative education organization, I have obtained necessary
skills related to the various aspects of leadership, critical thinking and ability to handle
challenging situations and customers who can create issues for the organization. These skills
have improved my knowledge and experience to progress in my career and become successful in
my personal and professional life too.
3.1 Reflections on feedback from academic supervisor
By obtaining the responses and feedbacks of the supervisor, I have understood how my
performance has been at the present and how it will help in progressing in the career with ease.
The verbal and written feedbacks have further helped in analyzing the various areas of
weaknesses like an issue faced while doing the referencing in APA style (Tracey & Baaki,
2014). I searched for the literature review section and obtained relevant knowledge and skills to
do the in texting and referencing by putting commas and initials in the right place too. Correct
referencing would help in finding related information by searching with the author name and
obtain important data and information regarding the same.
3.2 Future Career Direction and Preparation for future
My experiences within the cooperative education organization have helped me to
progress in my career and even determine my roles and responsibilities easily. I was not satisfied
with the kinds of customers’ services while working as a Sales and marketing manager. This is
why, I focused more on conducting market research to manage various surveys and ensure
collection and analysis of data to determine the market conditions. This would also help me to

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analyse the current market scenario in New Zealand and deliver products according to their
needs and requirements at Simply Indian (Arends, 2014).
I require additional training to strengthen my skills in the field of marketing research,
because my statistical knowledge is poor and it needs proper information to work on the statistics
course and furthermore improve my ability to analyze data with ease. This would fulfill my
personal development requirements and allow me to progress in my future career efficienctly
(Howarth & Fredericks, 2012).
4.0 Work Ready Curriculum Vitae
Name: ………….
Address: …………
Contact: ……………
Career objectives
To perform to my potential by undertaking initiatives, remain creative and dynamic in job.
Special skills
Leadership skills, management skills, operations skills
Professional experience
Name of organization: New Zealand Association for Cooperative Education
Duration of work: November 2014 to present

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Position: Studied about workplace integrated learning and studying various leadership and
management skills to handle situations at Simply Indian. The skills that I have obtained will help
me to achieve the requirements for progressing in my career and work as an efficient leader at
Simply Indian for delivering the best quality services to customers.
References
Arends, R. (2014). Learning to teach. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Howarth, R., & Fredericks, J. (2012). Sustainable SME practice: A reflection on supply-chain
environmental management intervention. Management of Environmental Quality: An
International Journal, 23(6), 673-685.
Kirkwood, A., & Price, L. (2014). Technology-enhanced learning and teaching in higher
education: what is ‘enhanced’and how do we know? A critical literature review.
Learning, media and technology, 39(1), 6-36.
Kolb, D. A. (2014). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development.
FT press.
Nosich, G. M. (2012). Learning to think things through: A guide to critical thinking across the
curriculum.
Schön, D. W. (2015). Teaching artistry through reflection-in-action.
Simplyindian.co.nz. (2017). Simplyindian.co.nz. Retrieved 11 October 2017, from
http://www.simplyindian.co.nz/

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Tracey, M. W., & Baaki, J. (2014). Design, designers, and reflection-in-action. In Design in
educational technology (pp. 1-13). Springer International Publishing.