Learning the Importance of Teamwork PAGEREF _Toc10448391 \h 5
Conflict Management PAGEREF _Toc10448392 \h 6
Information Technology Skills PAGEREF _Toc10448393 \h 6
Research Skills PAGEREF _Toc10448394 \h 7
Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc10448395 \h 7
Executive Summary
When I enrolled into this semester, was having limited set of skills as far as the overall learning capabilities are concerned but they have improved with the passage of time. Some of the things such as conflict management, leadership and research skills that I have learnt during the course of this semester has went a long way towards shaping up my career and polishing my set of skills at the particular point of time for better results. Not only that, I got to learn about the qualitative and quantitative analysis, and how they can be used for the broader research purpose. So, in the hindsight, the learning that I have from this course was quite exceptional to say the least.
Personal Reflection Journal
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Introduction
One of the things that I intended to achieve during the course of the semester was to make sure that there has to be improvement in the interpersonal skill that are essential as far as the decision making is done at the level of the organization. The core idea on my part is that the soft skills along with the hard skills are going to be the focus as far as the improvement is concerned. Not only that, I had developed a fair insight about my capabilities such as what are my strong points and what are some of the areas in which I am lacking and the whole purpose was to ensure that how I am able to augment these strong points but also make sure that the weaknesses are also supposed to be overcome, As far as the hard skills are concerned, there were some technical objectives in my mind in terms of how the semester is going to be moving forward and it would be quite prudent to ensure that these objectives are met one way or the another.
Findings
During the course of the term, and specially this module, there were some very specific targets and set of skills that I intended to acquire. I have an insight about what are some of the areas that I am lacking at the moment and what should I be doing to ensure that I tend to overcome these weaknesses. So, there was a solid plan on my part in terms of overcoming those weaknesses. Realistically speaking, I have observed some changes in my personally quite well and one of the major changes that I felt are going to be discussed in the next section.
Communication Skills
It was one of the areas where I thought that most work is needed to be done. In today’s market, the individual needs to make sure that how they are working in conjunction with the set of skills to ensure that they make the most out of their advantage. The communication skills I considered was the one that I improved the most. One of the reasons that there was considerable improvement in my communication skills was due to the fact that were made to partake in different presentations during the course of the semester. Interreacting with large group of people, convincing the broader audience about your points was one of the key things that I intended to do and towards the end I was quite pleased with my progress in terms of how in interacted with a broader group of people.
Writing Skills
There are people who tend to believe that the writing skills are more or less the extension of the communication skills but that is not the case. The writing was one set of skill that I always used to struggle with, the problem was that I had a hard time making sure that I tend to concentrate for the longer period of time. The other thing that is quite important when one gets to write is that one needs to be quite organized when they are writing, and that sense of organization was missing in my case. So, it was a big issue for me as far as the development of the discipline was concerned in terms of how the writing was supposed to be learnt. This is where this module helped me a lot. We were made to do many reports and writing and due to that, there was a marked improvement in my writing skills. It was in this module that I learned that one needs to have the specific writing skills as far as the different reports are concerned and the terms of reference for each of the respective report are quite different from one another. The other thing that improved my writing was that how started to integrate the data during the course of my writing process and it brought a huge improvement as far as the way I was writing. This course allowed me to express myself but also brought the necessary self-discipline that is critical to any writing process at the particular point of time. Not only that, it helped me overcame my fear for writing.
Learning the Importance of Teamwork
In the high school, the nature of the learning is that the interaction with one another is quite minimalistic and due to that, at times one does not gets enough time as far as making sure that the teamwork is employed at the workplace. The important thing that is needed to be kept in mind during the course of the whole process is that one realizes the importance of the teamwork and interacting with one another for the completion of the project. The way assignments and reports were designed, it went a long way towards making sure that the overall learning process was carried out in the appropriate manner. Interacting with different group members and allocating the tasks as per their strengths went a long way towards making sure that the appropriate learning was developed at the particular point of time. The other major thing that was carried out by our instructors that they made sure that they kept on shaking the groups with the different group members during the course of the semester. So, it was an interesting exercise as it challenged us and made sure that we people were able to come out of our comfort zone and challenge ourselves in one way or the another. So, it was also a huge learning curve during the semester that played its part in the semester as far as the overall learning goes. The team management was also an important set of skill that one got to learn. At times, there were differences in terms of what direction the report is going to be taking and how different things are going to be done at the broader level to make sure that the overall advantage of the situation was taken at the given point of time. So, all these factors went a long way towards making sure that how the long-term improvement was supposed to be done at the particular point of time. The ideal thing that is needed to be done in the given instance was that one sets aside their differences and work towards an objective that allows the long-term growth among the team members.
Conflict Management
In continuation of the above mentioned scenario, at times, there were instances when the groups were supposed to work with people who they were not comfortable with and thus at times it becomes quite impossible to make sure that how the whole thing is going to be managed at the particular point of time. So that perspective is needed to be kept in mind terms of how the resource allocation was needed to be carried out at the particular point of time. When the things got at standstill, it was quite important to make sure that the greater good of the group is considered and the effort is made to ensure that the broader changes that are implemented at the current level in the organization in terms of how things are being managed at the particular point of time. The other aspect that becomes quite important is that how the resource allocation is managed in the appropriate manner. So, these were some of the major set of skills that are learnt during the course of the whole learning process at the given point of time. Working with varied group of people allowed me greater insight about the dynamics of working in a group. This skill is not one of the strongest skill that I have but I have being working on to improved it for example I did the time management action plan, were I was able to find were I loss most of my time and what unnecessary activities I did during the day, and since then I have being able to organize better my time and give it a better used, one positive thing I have manage to do is that throughout the semester I have not miss any death.
Information Technology Skills
During my high school, the usage of the computer and the information technology to get thing done was not quite important. We were supposed to be following a very straight set of things in terms of how the learning process was done, and due to that, it was quite important that how the learning process was being done at the given point of time. That thing changed in the given semester as we were challenged by our instructors to make sure we push our limits in terms of how we were able to usage information technology as a resource as far as the decision making is being done at the level of the organization at the given point of time. So, all these considerations are quite important in terms of how the decision-making is being done. Usage of the internet as a research tool and using word processing software’s and applications went a long way towards making sure that I learnt a set of skills that are going to be holding me in good stead as far as the long term changes that are managed in the organization at the particular point of time. For improving on this skill I received lectures and seminars about the correct used of excel, power point and even word in the ICT module, also using blackboard and submitting works through it had make me feel more comfortable with the use of computer programs and electronic academic tools.
Research Skills
One major part of how the learning process goes is that one gets to learn hard skills that are going to be an important part in the professional hold. Now, this is where some of the broader changes that are implemented at the level of the organization. During the course of this semester, one key thing that I got to learn was that how the research tools and research skills are going to be learnt as far as the overall learning from the perspective of the individual is going to be carried out. Now, as we were collecting the raw data, I got to learn different research tools such as Excel and later on SPSS that went on a long way towards making sure that how the research is needed to be done and how the meaningful interpretation is supposed to be carried out from the raw data. Not only that, I also went through a statistics course that allowed to have better insight about how number crunching is supposed to be done and how relations among different variables are supposed to be plotted together at the given point of time. So, all these things went a long way towards improving my outlook towards the way data is supposed to be looked at.
Conclusion
In the hindsight, it can say that there were many valuable things that went on to learn during the course of this semester. There was marked improvement in my thought process and how one is supposed to handle different situations at the given point of time and how they are going to be able to make sure that they make the most of the opportunities at their disposal at the particular point of time. Not only that, it also allowed me to ensure that I learned some hard skills as well. Other skills such as leadership and team working are essential when working as member of a group, because if you do not know how to manage different situation the final work result is going to be very poor, and also these skills are very important for employers because they want someone that is able to adapt in different groups and that is able to perform different roles in those groups.
References
Riley‐Douchet, C., & Wilson, S. (1997). A three‐step method of self‐reflection using reflective journal writing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 25(5), 964-968.
