1、1Reflective reportIntroduction Reflection is a form of personal response to experiences, situations, events or new information. It is a processing phase where thinking and learning take place. The purpose of reflective essays is for students to analyze in writing his or her thoughts and feelings abo
2、ut their learning, their team, the subject, the project, peer assessment, factory visits or any other appropriate issues (Brookfield, 1987). It will be argued that reflection and the writing of reflective reports can not only aid learning but can also broaden communication skills and promote emotion
3、al intelligence. True reflections will not necessarily be positive either about the subject or about specific activities, projects or teams (Baird, 2000). However, students are encouraged to develop positive criticism skills where they identify ways of improving (in their opinion) on the existing si
4、tuation. Such opportunities may well develop several positive outcomes. Firstly, the student has to show the frustration in words, helping them clarify the issue in their own mind. Secondly, they need to clarify the comment in a way which will be understood and possibly empathized with by the others
5、. Thirdly, it encourages the student to think about possible ways of the issue and fourthly it may result in them to take action and overcome the frustration (Baird, 2000). In this report, I will focus on task allocation, taking notes, risk management and leadership skills. In the process of complet
6、ing of the project, our problems mainly appear in these aspects. Through writing reflective essays, I will summary what the frustrations are, how they come out, what we will do in the future to make it differently.2Main bodyIn retrospect I feel that I have learnt many invaluable lessons from underta
7、king the project and there are many things need to improve or do differently.Firstly, the most obvious thing that I discovered was the advantage of working as part of a group. I learned that good teamwork is the key to success in design activities when time and resources are limited. As everyone had
8、 their own point of view, many different ideas could be produced and I found the energy of group participation made me feel more energetic about contributing something. Rosefeld and Wilson (1999) point the importance of allocating individual roles to enable the division of labour and therefore incre
9、ase the effect within a team. In our project, our leader allocated roles to share workload throughout the project. George and I tried to find the tuition changes in 2007, Alpensh and Thung found some information in other countries, Derek and Chris tried to build the model based the data we collected
10、. Through the allocation, workload decreased dramatic. However, in practice, we found that a natural shift always occurred when we tried to find some data in individual areas, for example: I found the data describe the changes in 2007, which also can be used in building models. So I can email that i
11、nformation to them. By this way, we can cooperate and support each other. On the other side, it is important to establish the team role “type” because each type of team worker has implicit attributes and characteristics (Schn, 1987). Identifying these attributes and characteristics could aid my iden
12、tification of current weaknesses and strengths, and could further support the thoughts and opinions expressed in the rest of the report. Belbin (1996) identified eight types of team worker by using a self-perception questionnaire that enables individuals to identify their team working type or role.
13、In our group project, we just allocated our tasks by random, which bring some drawbacks to us. For 3example: some mates cannot finish their part, because they are not good at math and they cannot find enough evidence to support their arguments. Even for me, I think I am not good at stating the chang
14、es of tuition fee in the UK. Because English is my second language, I cannot use it so professionally, especially for some complex sentences or authority report. However, I am good at math and I have studied many related financial courses in my undergraduate degree, so I am pleased to build the mode
15、l and do the statistics.In addition, we apply our knowledge to solve the problems in real life, which bring much pleasure to us and help us to have a deep understand of the theories in note books. In this project, we collected data by using database, used Eviews and SPSS to build models, then analys
16、e the data and do some forecast by the knowledge we were taught in Economic evaluation technique course. Secondly, I found the note taking process itself helpful, as it ensured that I listened carefully and decoded information. The notes were written by hand on paper. They consisted of simple notes
17、and personal notes that would remind me of specific things when it came to writing the notes up. I took some direct notes recording what I saw where this was relevant to the research questions and, I also made some notes from our group mates. Not all the information I recorded was relevant, but noti
18、ng what I found informative useful or contributed to my part of the final report. However, the reliability of simple notes alone can be questionable. For example, the notes were not a direct transcription of what the journal or article said but consisted of useful information or interesting informat
19、ion. Besides that, English is my second language. Through my low level of paraphrasing, it may change the meaning. Some technical information was difficult to note down accurately. For 4example: Sometimes I misunderstood what our leader mean and made notes, which always brought many troubles to me.
20、When I used unappreciated or wrong words to show my ideas, our group mates also misunderstood. Usually as I do not have enough time to copy or record the sentence directly, just notes the bullet points, which also decreases the reliability of notes. If we have the chance to complete the project agai
21、n, a tape recorder would have been a better, more accurate method. However, if students use a tape recorder, they are possible to be asked to switch it off by participants who were uneasy about her comments being directly recorded. It seems that subjects feel differently about being recorded or phot
22、ographed, so specific consent should be sought before using these technologies. Besides that, I discovered that even the simplest things on earth could be turned into something amazing if we put enough creativity and effort into working on them. In our project, at first I know nothing about the comp
23、any “cotton mill”, and I am not interested in education aspect, I feel that the project will be so boring. However, after we meet the clients, they gave us so many interesting topics and information. We all find the tasks challenging and are able to create some cool stuff for the clients. During tho
24、se times, our group mates cooperated with each other and challenged each others preconceptions about what structure the final report should be. Based on the research, I learn much about the student accommodation market in the UK and the changes of tuition fee policy. In our presentation, our clients
25、 were quite pleased with our research and thought the recommendations are useful for their company. Thirdly, I noted risk management vital for the whole project, as it ensured that the research can be done on time and in high quality. A risk is anything that can cause you either to fall short of, or
26、 to exceed your project targets. A 5negative risk is something that could potentially have a detrimental effect on one or more of the project objectives. In our group, there are several risks (Mallon, 1984). For example: absenteeism. Because our group leader works in Newcastle, he only has little ti
27、me available for our group meeting. Chris took part in CFA test and he only had limited time for this project. Alpense also spent much time on part- time job. Besides that, during that time, we also have some courses need to attend. So the meeting time is hard to decide. Sometimes the meeting was fo
28、rced to be cancelled. Another risk is the allocated tasks cannot be finished on time or written in low quality. Almost every meeting, there was someone cannot finish his allocated part or our group leader was not satisfied with our writing. This situation delayed our progress, which may cause that w
29、e cannot submit the report on time. After identifying the risks, we should do risk management and take risk mitigation strategies. Risk management evaluates which risks identified in the risk assessment process require management and selects and implements the plans or actions that are required to e
30、nsure that those risks are controlled (Sandars, 2009). In the future, if the same problems occur, we will treat these risks differently. At first, identify risks. What are the risks? Who are the individuals responsible for implementing the risk mitigation? Why is it important to take this risk in re
31、lation to the project objectives? How is the risk going to be mitigated? After that, make risk management plan. To detail the strategies to minimize the risks, develop it in the conception and design stages of your project, communicate about project risks early and often, record all the documents ab
32、out the risks. In practice, we often talked about those problems by email and found the solutions. Even sometimes it does not work. However, in the last we finished the work successfully. If we have a choice to do the project again, we should make notes, record who should be responsible for 6the ris
33、ks ; give him/them warning; explain in detail the nature of the risk (such as: its likelihood, its affect etc.); force him to stop it.Fourthly, leadership is the key to the success of team work. An effective leader needs an incredible amount of project background information for his/her organization
34、. In our group, group leader is local people; he is affected by the tuition fee policy, and he has much more background information than us, so he is suitable to be our team leader. To be honest, we are not familiar with the education system of the UK. Besides that, an effective leader will listen t
35、o information that is difficult to hear. Many failures in decision-making are easily tracked back to the failure of a leader (Mayer it is hard to say which one is better. At last, our group took the English style. Because some group mates already got job, they spend most time in their job. This situ
36、ation causes one problem. After each group member finished their part of work and upload it in NOW, we only have short time to put all the content together. So we all think if we have more time, we can do it better. In my opinion, the best conflict resolution results from discussing the issues, list
37、ening to each group mates and providing constructive feedback. Even without so many meeting, we should upgrade our progress every day and try to contribute to our group. There are fundamental qualities that every team member should possess to enable him/ her to work effectively as part of team. Afte
38、r that, a good leader should make plans for all the team work and allocate 7all the tasks to the team members. The more we plan things, the more confident we feel about our ability to effectively take control of a situation. A good example of this happened recently. As the project is coming to an en
39、d, we need to submit the final report before the deadline. At the same time, the report of financial modelling (our major course) also must be finished soon. There is a conflict between the two reports. In order to complete all the tasks before the deadline, we produced a time-line activity plan and
40、 discussed this with the team. Through this way, we finish the reports on time. However, as I mentioned before, we only have little time to go review it. As a whole, our group leader is a successful leader. He took control of the project by setting out our objectives and encouraging the group to foc
41、us on the task ahead. Then he organised the structure of the report, delegated tasks and set time plans and deadlines. He is responsible for the whole project. The only drawback is lack of effective communication between leader and group mates.ConclusionIn summary, I have learnt many invaluable less
42、ons from undertaking the project and on reflection I really feel that I have improved my ability. Firstly, from this project, we apply our knowledge to solve the problems in the real world. So we can have a deep understand of the related theory. Secondly, every team member should possess to enable h
43、im/her to work effectively as part of a team. We should avoid freeloader and take responsibility for the group. Besides that, leadership is so important for the successful of teamwork. Successful leadership is the foundation of the team cooperation. Effective communication is the effective way to so
44、lve the conflict between leader and group members. The fourth, risk management should be well prepared before the project started and avoid the things which can be solved at the beginning 8of the project. In the future, if we have the chance to complete the project again there are many things that I
45、 would do differently. I will establish the team role type that I best conform to because each type of team worker has implicit attributes and characteristics. I will solve the conflicts between our group mates through effective communication or democratic way. I will also well preparation of the ri
46、sk management of projects through make detailed risk management plan.9ReferenceBaird, M. (2000). Developing critical thinkers: challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting, Open University Press, Milton Keynes.Belbin,S. (1996). Mezirow, J 1990, Fostering critical reflection
47、in adulthood: a guide to transformative and emancipatory learning, Jossey- Bass, San Francisco.Brookfield, S. (1987).Towards the development of a reflective radiographer: challenges and constraints. London: Edward ArnoldMallon, T. (1984). A book of ones own: People and their diaries. Picador Books.M
48、ayer, J. D., Liaison with cotton mills, Liaison with supervisor. Weekly procedure in regards to minutes agendas and updating of group shared file space.11 Cotton Mills Group to report back and collate findings from research into Cotton Mills. The BriefGroup discussion into the brief point by point w
49、ith the intention of formulating broad plan for the project going forward. This should also include discussion into deadlines. Sources of information and Data Agreement on any potential external sources of data that need to be explored and who will be responsible where necessary for contacting and gathering this information. Meeting with clientFull discussion of the requirements for the meeting with the client, formulation of questions, agreement on presentation. Suggested pre-meeting meeting day before the client meeting to bring together final plan. Any other business. Agen
