Skills for Workplace Management: A Reflective Report

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SKILLS FOR WORKPLACE MANAGEMENT
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Table of Contents
1) Introduction.................................................................................................................................2
2) Main body....................................................................................................................................3
3) Conclusion...................................................................................................................................7
Reference List..................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................9
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1) Introduction
A reflective report is an analytical documentation that describes a real event, scenario, passing
thought, interaction, memory and others (Moon, 2013). It incorporates a personal reflection
based on the item, feeling, incident, situation and emotion related to an individual’s life. Such
reports include an overview of a situation including the person’s skills, knowledge, effort and
development associated with it. Reflective report involves analysing an event from various
perspectives by thinking in depth. The purpose of reflective reports is to help an individual to
learn from past practical experiences. Through reflection, a learner can develop a sense of what
has happened and how things can be improved in the future. Reflective practice is beneficial in
improving self-awareness and developing an understanding of a situation. It also helps in
improving creativity and encouraging active engagement. A reflective report is a great way to
demonstrate your own experience and develop own skills through self-directed learning. In
addition to this, with a help of a reflective report, individual contributions in teamwork can be
assessed.
The particular reflective report reflects about a team presentation on the business plan. The plan
was made on a restaurant in Canary Wharf. It shall show how the group was formed. The
contribution of each group member in the development of the business plan will be stated here.
The report shall demonstrate how group members have succeeded in managing stress. It shall
include critical thinking, teamwork, communication, leadership, management and other skills
along with their implementation while developing and presenting the business plan. It shall
reflect how group members were communicating with each other during this activity and the
challenges faced by them during communication process. With the application of Tuckman’s
team development theory, the study shall how the group was formed and difficulties associated
with team development. The study will apply Gibb’s reflective cycle to present a detail
description of the activity and formulate an action plan to bring some improvements.
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2) Main body
2.1) Notion before group formation and ways of forming the group
Perception before the group was formed
In time of developing a group, it is necessary to have the aim, for which, the group will be
developed. As mentioned by Farasat and Nikolaev (2016), if an effective group can be formed
for meeting the aim, it helps to earn positive outcome. Using Gibbs’ model, I am trying to give
reflection on the presentation. As I wanted to create a business plan for opening a restaurant in
Canary Wharf, it was necessary to have the manpower and in this context, I developed a group
of 5 members. I also thought that when; I would include more members in the group, it would be
essential to follow the opinion of them related to the plan. I would not be able to take decision
for the plan personally. In addition to this, it would also help us to create the plan for restaurant
in Canary Wharf in an efficient manner as everyone was trying to give his/her best for it. Team
working would bring in a pool of creative ideas, which would help in successful implementation
of the plan.
Figure 1: Tuckman’s Team & Group Development Model
(Source: Influenced by Raes et al., 2015)
In this context, I tried to follow the theory of Tuckman’s so that I could get clear idea related to
team building and team working process. According to Raes et al. (2015), this theory gives clear
knowledge on the ways of handling a task in an appropriate manner so that people are able to get
fruitful outcome. This theory elaborates about five stages such as forming, storming, norming
and performing. Therefore, I tried to include members of different skills such as financial skills,
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food related knowledge and management skills for making a proper business plan. This is the
step under formation of Tuckman’s model.
Ways of forming along with my feeling
In time of forming the group, as mentioned by Farasat and Nikolaev (2016), it is necessary to set
the aim and objectives based on which, members should be selected who possess a variety of
skills. The different skills that should be possessed by the team members are financial skills,
management skills, ideation skills and others. As I was planning for opening a restaurant in
Canary Wharf, I needed the members who had the capability of conducting market research,
managing financial skills and having knowledge on contemporary foods. Therefore, I included
my four friends, who have these skills so that I was able to make a proper plan for opening the
restaurant. In addition this, my motto was to provide tasty and innovative food items to the
customers in a cheap price rate, the above-mentioned group formation strategy was effective for
completing the business plan in a lucrative manner.
By creating this group, as we would be able to work in a collaborative manner, it helped me to
feel happy. In this group, one member has knowledge on the contemporary foods. Another
member is able to conduct market research using internet for which we were able to know the
demand of people at present era. Therefore, my perception was that everyone would involve
himself/herself in this plan and I would be able to create a good plan for opening a restaurant. .
Thus, using the feeling option of Gibbs’ model, my feeling is explained in this section.
2.2) Actual experience
When, we started to work together, we created a Whatsapp group so that we could communicate
with ourselves easily at any time. As commented by Maund et al. (2017), effective
communication is the main strategy for getting success in the teamwork. Moreover, we also
arranged group meeting in our college campus. Initially, I noticed that everyone did proper work
for making the plan. We divided our tasks such as conducting market research, developing
budget, preparing menu, designing of the restaurant so that in time of making plan, we all were
able to give our best. As our aim was to give innovative food items to customers, the member,
who has capability of doing market research, performed well for gathering information. In this
context, we have found out that people prefer to get innovation taste and based on this, the menu
was developed.
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In context of financial aspect, the expert gave a good suggestion and we preferred it except one
member, who managed the decorations of restaurant. As per the Tuckman’s model, better
performance can be achieved when conflict can be removed logically (Raes et al., 2015). Hence,
the member, who designed the decoration for restaurant, was not able to explain why he/she
thought that the budget was not sufficient. Therefore, it created a little issue in our group.
On the other hand, as I have knowledge on management, I contributed to make the plan using the
information, which was gathered by my other teammates. In time of creating plan, I had
monitored that my co-worker in this department was so indifferent and he/she completely
depended on me. I feel unhappy in this sector. In time of taking final decision related to plan, 2
members did not agree with the food items as their notion was that the items such as spicy green
chicken, Yorkshire pudding of different flavour were quite common. However, after negotiation,
the problem could be solved. I felt happy in this part, as negotiation is an important factor for
teamwork. This portion reflects the concept of evaluation of Gibbs’ model.
In order to analyse the situation, it can be stated that doing teamwork is not an easy job. As
mentioned by Salas et al. (2017), if the team members do not get proper guidance, it can create
barrier to get effective outcome. For example, in time of making plan for restaurant of Canary
Wharf, it is noticed that the member, who needed to manage the plan with me, did not take any
responsibility. In this context, I have learned that I should observe the working process of
members along with completing my own task. Otherwise, it is not possible to manage all
members at a time. As it is a group work, not all members are equally sincere. Hence, one
member should be there, who will be able to guide the team properly so that task can be
completed within time.
2.3) Presentation
All group members were present on the day we are presenting the business plan. I have discussed
with everyone to come early so that we can get some time to practice. There were around ten
groups to give a presentation. We were in the sixth position to deliver our business plan. Firstly,
we observed how other group members were presented on their specific topic. We found some
presentations more creative. Some presentations were not understandable due to lack of in-depth
knowledge on respective topics. We have decided to give our best and score well in this activity.
I was leading my group members, and I have introduced my team members and our chosen
presentation topic. I started with a creative line that provides an overview of our business plan.
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Then, I demonstrated each topic that we have decided to cover during the activity. The second
member of our group started with an idea that made us choose this business and rationale behind
this. The particular member has poor communication skill for which he could not present the
rationale effectively.
The next part of presentation was to define budget, time, resources and other essentials for
making our plan successful. I was satisfied with the way she presented the cost required for each
activity with proper justification. I found her very logical in her justification. The next member
demonstrated the market and competitive analysis by stating major opportunities found in
Canary Wharf. The supervisor appreciated us due to in-depth research conducted to determine
number of competitors, target customer group and other aspects to develop our plan. The last
member of our group has presented the description of products that the business shall serve along
with a comprehensive plan to market and promote.
With the completion of our presentation, the supervisor asked some questions about the plan. We
were able to answer all questions with proper explanations. The supervisor was happy with the
teamwork skill that we have utilised while preparing and presenting the plan. However, he was
not satisfied with the overall communication skill of all members. One of our group members
was unable to justify things that he has presented. Everything was very good during the
presentation, as we have covered all topics. Group coordination was good, as members were
aware of when and how to deliver their respective parts.
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3) Conclusion
In this section, I will demonstrate the things that I learnt during preparation and presentation of
the business plan on a new restaurant. I found that teamwork skill is necessary for a group
activity. This skill is important for increased efficiency and higher productivity. When each
member shares his or her knowledge and ideas, the work becomes more creative. I observed
leadership skill is necessary to guide all members and supervise everyone’s work. A team leader
has the capacity to face all challenges posed during activity and encourage everyone on how to
deal with such situations without being tensed. I can suggest others to apply creativity skill in
each group activity, as this can help to incorporate diverse ideas. It is essential to respect each
one’s views and perspectives during group work. Otherwise, it may lead to conflict that may
degrade quality of work. Communication is another crucial skill to work in a group. If group
members do not communicate with each other, they cannot discuss on challenges they face in the
individual task.
The application of Tuckman’s team development theory helped us to form an effective group.
We are able to identify challenges in each stage. In my view, everyone should have the capability
to perform market research, design cost structure and basic knowledge on a business plan to
develop an effective business plan. The business plan can be more creative by adding financial
projection for the upcoming three to five years. This may indicate the feasibility of the chosen
restaurant business. Additionally, it would better to incorporate sales strategy, control
mechanism and others to make the plan more presentable. If I am assigned with a similar group
presentation, I will research more and ensure that everyone is showing ownership to develop and
present successfully.
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Reference List
Farasat, A. and Nikolaev, A.G., 2016. Social structure optimization in team
formation. Computers & Operations Research, 74, pp.127-142.
Maund, A. Schriek, M. and Tinkler, P. (2017). Certificate in Higher Education: Skills for the
Workplace Student Yearbook. New Jersey: Sage Publications
Moon, J.A., 2013. A handbook of reflective and experiential learning: Theory and practice.
Routledge.
Raes, E., Kyndt, E., Decuyper, S., Van den Bossche, P. and Dochy, F., 2015. An exploratory
study of group development and team learning. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 26(1),
pp.5-30.
Salas, E., Prince, C., Baker, D.P. and Shrestha, L., 2017. Situation awareness in team
performance: Implications for measurement and training. In Situational Awareness (pp. 63-76).
Routledge.
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Bibliography
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Learning Analytics to improve teamwork assessment. Computers in Human Behavior, 47,
pp.149-156.
Morgan, P. (2016). The Business Student’s Guide to Study and Employability. Sage Publications
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competition: a resource-advantage theory approach. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector
Marketing, 30(3), pp.229-250.
Williams, K., Woolliams, M. and Spiro, J., 2012. Reflective writing. Macmillan International
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