A Reflective Analysis on a Management Research Project

This essay presents a student's reflective account of their experiences during a management research project focused on the advantages and disadvantages of social media networking in businesses. The reflection covers the development of the project charter, challenges in defining research objectives and questions, and the importance of relevant literature. It discusses the literature review process, emphasizing the alignment of research objectives with the literature and the refinement of arguments based on feedback. The essay also addresses the research methodology, highlighting difficulties in designing a survey questionnaire and the subsequent improvements made through feedback and collaboration. The reflection underscores the iterative nature of research, the value of teamwork, and the continuous learning involved in conducting management research.

Running head: REFLECTION ON MANAGEMENT RESEARCH
REFLECTION ON MANAGEMENT RESEARCH
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Introduction to the experiences before initiating the work
The development of the project charter required an extensive knowledge on the different
resources relating to the organizational issues. I was confused while choosing my role in the
group activity. On the other hand, this was the first time I was getting involved in this sort of an
activity which deliberately affected my confidence. I could gather a little confidence only after
reviewing relevant literature on the topic in order to ensure that there are adequate resources that
might be considered for the research. However, I was excited to conduct the research as believed
that it would be an interesting activity, which would enhance my skills of analyzing data and
representing the same as findings. The reflective diary account would portray the different
learning experience while commencing with the assignment.
Section 1: Project charter
The topic that is being cho0sen by me is related to the exploration of the advantages and
disadvantages of using social media networking in businesses. I believed that the utilization of
the social media platforms are the major point of consideration that is being undertaken by the
organizations with the objective of maintaining the efficiency of the operations. In this relation, I
found that the topic relating to social media would rather be informative as well as interesting.
On the other hand, apart from the advantages, there are certain disadvantages that are being faced
by the organizations while utilizing the social media platforms. Therefore, I planned to explore
the different advantages and disadvantages of social media networking in organizational
contexts. The delineation of the advantages and disadvantages of social media networking would
assist in developing a coherent understanding of the manner in which the same might be utilized
by the organizations.

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On the other hand, I presumed that one of the most trending marketing techniques in the
21st century is reliant on the utilization of the social media platforms. Therefore, in this relation,
the delineation of the social media strategies and the manner in which the same might affect the
potentials of the ventures were displayed through the development of the research study. The
development of the research problem, the objectives and the questions relied on the evaluation of
the research subject and the manner in which the same might be dealt with (McCambridge,
Witton & Elbourne, 2014). Therefore, I took steps to develop a coherent understanding of the
different probable objectives based on the research aim.
The research objectives assisted me in developing he research questions for guiding the
analysis related activities that might be undertaken with the objective of guiding the study
towards an unbiased outcome. The development of the group activity depended on the
proficiency of the group members and the specific level of expertise of the same. I clearly
justified my position while developing the project charter through the utilization of a numerous
library sources with the objective of collecting relevant information on the topic. The draft that
was created during the project charter was reliant on the information that was collected from the
initial search results. The representation of the findings from different available literatures
assisted me in developing a proficient knowledge on the topic that is being considered in this
connection. The representation of the argument and counter arguments in this relation assisted
me in identifying the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing the social media networks by the
businesses. The evaluation of the available information in this relation, assisted me in developing
suitable knowledge on the pros and cons that are being faced by the organizations while utilizing
the social media networking processes.

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The feedbacks that I received from Philip was taken seriously as the draft had plenty of
loopholes. The evaluation of the draft that was created by the team reflected that the objectives
and the questions for the research study needed remodeling. On the other hand, some of the data
that was selected for the initial research was outdated which was later changed by the team. The
development of the draft in adherence to the feedback that we gathered from Philip assisted I
developing the initial objectives and questions in adherence to the needs of the study. Later, after
rectifying the issues in the draft we prepared for a class presentation where I played the role of
developing the slides. The development of the slides in a prescribed format, as per the university
guidelines assisted me in representing the data while conveying the chief information and data
points. The development of the slides assisted me in developing the content that might be
presented before the class for better communication of the gathered information on the pros and
cons of social media networking in the organizational context.
Section 2: Literature review
I believe that literature review is one of the crucial step that might be considered by a
researcher with the objective of gathering all sorts of information that is relevant to the topic. In
this relation, the literature review is commenced through the evaluation of different sources of
information that is available over net. I searched the peer reviewed journals and other authentic
sources of information with the objective of developing a coherent literature review based on the
delineation of the pros and cons of social media networking in the business organizations.
Reliable sources of information were retrieved from different online libraries and journal
publications with the intent of developing a coherent argumentation based on the assessment of
the needs of developing social media strategies for an organization (Machi & McEvoy, 2016).

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On the other hand, I also reviewed relevant industry reports proclaiming the ill effects of
utilizing the social media networking strategies that are being undertaken by the organizations.
Cronin (2014) opined that the development of coherent understanding of the topic and
thereby developing an argumentative position for the topic is reliant on the structure of the
literature review. After reviewing the information that is being gathered from different reliable
sources I took steps to develop a coherent structure of the literature review relying mostly on the
needs of justifying the objectives of conducing the research. The development of the structure
and the lineup for the thematic literature review is reliant on understanding of the objectives for
the study.
Aligning the research objectives with the literature review was firstly complex for me as
the design of the literature review largely depended on justifying the argumentation as per the
objectives. During the literature review I noticed that most of the companies were benefitted
through the utilization of the social media strategies. However, there are certain companies that
have faced difficulties due to negative publicity. The evaluation of the topic through the
utilization of the company examples assisted me in enhancing the draft work. The literature that
was assessed during the literature review also helped me in developing a coherent understanding
of the manner in which the data sets might be represented in the research.
Dusek, Yurova and Ruppel (2015) stated that the alignment of the literature evaluation
session in a research with the objectives would assist in developing suitable argumentation of the
different areas. On the other hand, the development of the Literature assessment in adherence to
the objectives of the topic area assisted me in enhancing my knowledge on the probable
outcomes. The development of the draft assisted me in specifying the outline to the study while
guiding the same towards the favorable outcomes. The responses that I gathered from Philip on

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the daft that was submitted by me assisted in developing the argumentativeness of the literature
review. There was significant issues with the portrayal of data from the different sources. The
projection of data was not done on an argumentative basis which interrupted the flow of the
content that was developed during the draft. After the rectifications in the literature review I
submitted the final draft of literature review on blackboard. The rectifications assisted me in
perfecting the literature review while maintaining the consistency of the argumentation
procedure. On the other hand, the adherence to the feedbacks from Philip assisted me in
developing a coherent literature review while maintaining the efficiency of the assessment.
Section 3: Methodology
The research methodology is being developed by me in adherence to the objective of
conducting the study. I discussed the research methods firstly with the objective of gaining a
complete insight on the different activities that might be commenced. Rea and Parker (2014)
stated that clarity in the research methodology assists a researcher in developing and guiding the
study towards the estimated findings of the same. I undertook the research through primary data
collection method which took responses from 100 employees. However, I faced significant
issues while designing the survey questionnaire. Due to inexperience I developed a questionnaire
which was not aligned to the objectives of undertaking the research. Singh and Masuku (2014)
opined that the alignment of the surveys with the objective of the study assist a researcher in
gathering data on the significant points. Therefore, the lack of congruence between the survey
questionnaire and the objective of the study affected my capabilities of developing the study in
adherence to the aim of conducting the research. However, after reviewing Philip’s responses on
the survey questionnaire and the pilot survey, I could successfully rectify the errors in the
questionnaire through rephrasing the questions. Therefore, the rectifications in the draft assisted

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me in improving the scope of gathering inputs from the different sampling activities. The data
that will be gathered through the survey would assist me in developing a quantifiable result from
the survey. The feedback from Philip simply eased my job while improving the quality of the
questions while focusing on the outcomes of the research. Apart from the feedback, the team also
took the initiative of dividing the rectifications between the same with the objective of avoiding
situations of task overload on a single individual. Again, frequent interactions among the team
members assisted us to develop the research while circulating the required information among
the members Coordination and collaboration among the team members also assisted in
developing the research study while adhering to the objectives of understanding the pros and
cons of social media networking in the different organizations.

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References
Cronin, C. (2014). Using case study research as a rigorous form of inquiry. Nurse
researcher, 21(5).
Dusek, G. A., Yurova, Y. V., & Ruppel, C. P. (2015). Using social media and targeted snowball
sampling to survey a hard-to-reach population: A case study. International Journal of
Doctoral Studies, 10, 279-299.
Machi, L. A., & McEvoy, B. T. (2016). The literature review: Six steps to success. Corwin Press.
McCambridge, J., Witton, J., & Elbourne, D. R. (2014). Systematic review of the Hawthorne
effect: new concepts are needed to study research participation effects. Journal of clinical
epidemiology, 67(3), 267-277.
Rea, L. M., & Parker, R. A. (2014). Designing and conducting survey research: A
comprehensive guide. John Wiley & Sons.
Singh, A. S., & Masuku, M. B. (2014). Sampling techniques & determination of sample size in
applied statistics research: An overview. International Journal of Economics, Commerce
and Management, 2(11), 1-22.