Reflective Diary

I am writing this essay in-order to reflect upon the experiences, that I have experienced during the 7 months that I have been studying the Work based live case study module (2509) and how these experiences have impacted upon my approach towards my communication, team working, problem solving skills and other factors which were endemic within the module.

After completing the first year module New enterprise journey, which is the module prior to Work based live case study. I expected the work based live case study to be similar. However I found out this as correct in a sense, however the Work based live case study module took the theoretical aspects from the first year and focused upon their application. I felt this was very useful, firstly because it was invaluable experience, which I would not have gained from a case study/text book as the example/situation was a real life simulation. Secondly the live case study experience will have an impact on my life as it will aide my search for a job in the future, this will be because it will look good on my Curriculum Vitae in terms of transferable skills.

Meeting a real life entrepreneur in Tricia pedlar of Strategic spur and learning how her business ran on a day to day basis was hugely enlightening. This was important to me as it gave me and my team a chance to experience what it was like to be a consultant, I felt this was the highlight of the work based live case study module and the most memorable experience.

For the first assignment of the module we had to embark upon a researching assignment, I felt that I performed badly because my research skills were not up to standard (Did not know many places to look) From this experience I have learnt once again, that you should not be afraid to ask for help when it is needed (as not doing so will often have disastrous consequences for example losing the company money in my case a bad grade) So if I had the chance to take the module again i would ask for help more as the tutors are there to help.

From the level one module New enterprise journey I learnt that the team selection was an important facet. According to Bolton & Thompson 2004 people selection is important as it "enhances performance significantly, so the work based case study module helped me be able to carryout team selection, this process was through working with people I have had previous experience in working with, this proved successful as we worked well as a unit, this was mainly because a group member assumed leadership which is another important facet within a team.

Work based case study being a level two module meant that there was a large amount of work to carryout within a tight deadline, as were assigned a blank canvas of what kind of solutions we could encompass. So we had to divide the work into sections so that all the team members could contribute to the task completion within a timely manner. I believe this was successful as it meant that the work was done much quicker and the quality of the work was therefore much better, as we managed to get a variety of solutions in order to help solve the problems as there was no one clear solution to the problem , however a compilation of mini-solutions to the underlying problems, I found that using an Ishikawa diagram(cause-effect diagram) was particularly useful as it helped reach the roots of the problems , I will be using that technique in my other modules and in the real world because it make problem solving much easier as it help identify what the real problem is.

Also from carrying out a large piece of work, so from this I learnt that you don't not necessarily need to be in the same place to work