MG408 Graduate Challenge: Skills and Challenges Reflective Report

This reflective report analyzes the Graduate Challenge, detailing the challenges faced in the Apprentice, Presentation, and T-Shirt challenges. It highlights the development of crucial skills such as communication, emotional intelligence, teamwork, time management, business acumen, meeting skills, and competencies. The report explores the relationship between these acquired skills and various business functions like branding, finance, and operations. It further applies Tuckman’s Theory on Teamwork, outlining the stages of team development. Finally, the report concludes with a SMART action plan for personal development and references relevant academic sources.

Graduate Challenge

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
Challenges faced with skills gained.......................................................................................2
Relationship between the skills gained and the business functions.......................................5
Tuckman’s Theory on Teamwork..........................................................................................5
Action plan.............................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
This reflective report contains the various challenges faced in accomplishing the tasks given
and what skills I have gained through those challenges. I will answer all the questions and
complete all my tasks assigned to me in a very potential way. I will understand all the issues and
implications out of such challenges and skills by applying it on the real time business functions
and using theories for the same. I will follow the proper structure while answering all my
questions in a good manner. Moreover, I will make my action plan honestly using SMART
goals. The following discussions are made on the three challenges faced and the learning learnt
from those activities, created the relationship between the skills gained and the business
functions, applied the team work theory and featured my action plan.
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MAIN BODY
Challenges faced with skills gained
Apprentice Challenge
Communication skills
This challenge helped in improving my communication skills as gaining experience by
working in a real time company lets me to communicate with different types of people in an
organization so my communication is enhanced with this challenge (Aragon-Correa, Marcus,
Rivera and Kenworthy, 2017).
Emotional intelligence
This challenge helped me making me emotionally strong and perfect, taught me that
when to get emotional and when not. It must be a balance between the emotional and mental
intelligence in the corporate life. I gained this ability by accepting this challenge.
Teamwork
This challenge helped me performing in a team, how to behave, hoe to manage and how
to work in a team because in an organization, there are group projects so it is important to gain
such skillset in me in order to manage in the professionalism.
Time Management
This challenge helped in managing my time to do the particular task because in an
organization it was important to complete the task as per the given deadline so I learnt the time
management from this particular challenge.
Meeting Skills
This challenge helped in gaining my abilities in meeting skills because client dealings is
one of the major part of an organization and I used to generally have to do such meetings so that
is why I learnt the meeting skills from this challenge (Lewis and McDonagh, 2019).
Business skills
This challenge helped me gaining the skills of business because many functions were
available in an organization so about the marketing strategies, and many other functions are
taught mainly gained the business skills from this challenge.
Competencies
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This challenge helped me gaining the competencies which means they how can I be
competitive against someone, how can I gain the competitive advantages so that competing can
be easy for me in any point of my life thereby gained the skills in competencies.
Presentation Challenge
Communication skills
This challenge assisted me gaining the skills in communication because representing in
front of the lots of people needs the courage and a good confidence and this can be gained
through communication skills. Therefore, I improved by performing this challenge (Mwita,
2018).
Teamwork
This challenge assisted me gaining the coordination and cooperation in team work among
the team mates because this challenge is a group work so it is important to learn the team work
so that the assigned task can be done in a better way.
Time Management
This challenge assisted me in managing my time because there was a deadline given to
accomplish this task otherwise we can be penalised so it we completed this task anyhow on time
thereby I learnt the skills in time management.
Business skills
This challenge assisted me gaining the skills of business because the topic was related to
the management in TESCO so I gained a lot of knowledge about the functions of the company
and how it is operating thereby gained the business skills.
Emotional intelligence
This challenge assisted me gaining the emotional intelligence because while performing
this presentation challenge it was important to manage the emotions at every point either the
teammate is a friend or anyone else thereby gained the emotional intelligence (Shivoro, Shalyefu
and Kadhila, 2017).
Meeting Skills
This challenge assisted me gaining the meeting skills because before starting preparing
for the presentation, it is important to plan and meet all the members for the proper discussions
about the challenge thereby gained the meeting skills.
Competencies
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This challenge assisted me gaining the competing power with other person because the
presentation was individual means marks allotment is a separate basis so it is important to my
best in order to compete with other people in a positive manner.
T-Shirt Challenge
Communication skills
This challenge supported me gaining the communication skills because it is important to
communicate with the team members while preparing and completing the task so I gained
confidence in me in my communication skills.
Teamwork
This challenge supported me in gaining the team work skills because it is also having the
teamwork concept to be polite with everyone, helped in conflict management, listening to each
and every team mate vies about the challenge helped in gaining the team work skills (Shivoro,
Shalyefu and Kadhila, 2018).
Time Management
This challenge supported me gaining the time management skills as it was also having the
deadline to finish such activity, initially it was delayed but then at last we had speed up our
process of work and finally accomplished that on time.
Business skills
This challenge supported me gaining the skills in business because it consist the
formation of new brand, it’s logo and tagline associated with the brand. So I learnt a lots of
business functions relating to such activities facing this challenge.
Emotional intelligence
This challenge supported me gaining the skills of emotional intelligence because mental
intelligence is also related with the emotional in this particular challenge so in order to keep the
track of both the intelligence, it is important to gain the intelligence of emotions.
Meeting Skills
This challenge supported me in gaining the skills of meeting because it was a team work
so it was essential to sit together and perform meeting to accomplish this task by planning and
executing the assigned work thereby gained the meeting skills.
Competencies
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This challenge supported me gaining the skills of competition because it’s outline was to
develop a brand so it was important for us to analyse the competitive advantage in the market for
the brand we are building up thereby improving the competency skills.
Relationship between the skills gained and the business functions
Branding
This is one of the business function where skills gained in T-shirt challenge can help me
in performing such function in an organization in a professional way which includes the
creativity, innovation and new idea generation in the company.
Finance
This is another business function where skills gained in the presentation challenge can
assist me in making the budgets and cash flow so that the utilization of the business resources
can be done properly in a professional manner (Tomlinson, 2017).
Operations
This is also the business function where skills gained in the apprentice challenge can
support me in managing the company’s operations using team work skills, competencies skills,
emotional intelligence, communication skills and many more which are discussed above.
Tuckman’s Theory on Teamwork
Forming
It is the first stage of the theory which states that the team must be formed according to
the skills and the type of task assigned to the group members so that they can maintain the
coordination level among them in forming up of a team.
Storming
It is the second stage of the theory which states that it is in the nature that if team is being
formed that it is automatically understood that there will be the conflicts, arguments,
contradiction of ideas and many more. Therefore, it is important to manage such conflicts.
Norming
It is the third stage of the theory which states that the conflicts, fights and arguments are
now to be resolved and start preparing for the task which is assigned in a potential manner with
full effectiveness (Weybrecht, 2017).
Performing
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It is the fourth stage if the theory which states that now it is the time of executing the task
which was prepared in the last stage of norming, performing if a task is in a group where
coordination level must be excellent among the team members.
Adjourning
It is the fifth stage of the theory which states that now it is the time of packing up and
binding up the team after completing up of the task and dismiss all the team members to create
another team with new members for the new task.
Action plan
Specific
Goal is to earn a degree that must be specific like masters in business administration or
any other.
Measurable
It must be measurable like the performance and how much a person can gain through
such degree.
Attainable
It must be attainable like it is not at all imaginative, it should be a practical
implementation of a goal.
Relevant
It must be relevant like it has the value in gaining up the skills in the business functions
and professionalism.
Time based
It must be time based like it has some duration of completion like it is of two or three
years’ time duration degree.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that it is important to perform the activities which create challenges for me so
that I can gain a lot of knowledge and learning from those difficulties faced while executing such
activities. These activities gave me the experience of how can I work in my professional world in
the real time business functions which are the most essential part of such challenges and team
work. This report covers the challenges like apprentice challenge, presentation challenge and T-
shirt challenge through various skills and abilities I have learnt by facing such challenges. Three
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major business operations like branding, operations and finance are discussed in relation with the
challenges. Tuckman’s team work theory and action plan with SMART goals are also covered.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Aragon-Correa, J.A., Marcus, A.A., Rivera, J.E. and Kenworthy, A.L., 2017. Sustainability
management teaching resources and the challenge of balancing planet, people, and
profits.
Lewis, S. and McDonagh, V., 2019. Assessed seminars for pre-sessional international post-
graduate management studies.
Mwita, K.M., 2018. Tanzania graduate employability: Perception of human resource
management practitioners. International Journal of Human Resource Studies. 8(2).
pp.263-272.
Shivoro, R., Shalyefu, R.K. and Kadhila, N., 2017. Embedding graduate employability attributes
in management sciences curricula: A case of two Namibian universities. Journal of
Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability. 8(1). p.123.
Shivoro, R.S., Shalyefu, R.K. and Kadhila, N., 2018. Perspectives on graduate employability
attributes for management sciences graduates. South African Journal of Higher
Education. 32(1). pp.216-232.
Tomlinson, M., 2017. Forms of graduate capital and their relationship to graduate
employability. Education+ Training.
Weybrecht, G., 2017. From challenge to opportunity–Management education's crucial role in
sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals–An overview and
framework. The International Journal of Management Education. 15(2). pp.84-92.
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