Business Environment | My Assignment Tutor -

MGT501: Business Environment Assessment 1 Part A: Initial Statement of Intent My long term goal is to be able to implement projects and also to start my own business where I am able to successfully undertake projects for my customers. The sole reason for my enrolling in the Master of Global Project Management (Advance) is to increase my knowledge and skills in this area. During the introduction to the Business Environment subject I was introduced to the importance of reflective practices and how it can help us improve our understanding about self and our behaviours. I read in a paper by DeFillippi (2001) that reflective practice in a business environment has proven to be helpful to companies to gain success in the long term. Schön’s model of reflection (as cited in Erlandson, 2014) helps a person to reflect while they are engaged in an activity (reflect-in-action) as well as reflect on when they are not engaged in the activity (reflection-on-action). According to Gibbs’ (1988) reflective cycle (Fig 1.1), it elaborates on describing what happened during a situation, reactions and feelings during and after that situation, evaluating the situation by looking at what was good and what was bad in the situation, making sense of the situation by analysing it, concluding by deciding what else could have been done and finally developing an action plan for the use of future events (as cited in Markkanen, Välimäki, Anttila, & Kuuskorpi, 2020). Kolb’s model of experiential learning (as cited in Healey & Jenkins, 2000) shows how experiences can be transformed through reflection (Fig 1.2). This is then conceptualised and used as a guide for active experimentation leading to new experiences. Reflective practices help a person to engage in self appraisals about situations, thoughts, feelings, emotions and their reactions or behaviours that they experienced during a specific situation (Carroll, 2010) and make sense of what happened during that situation. The following is an initial attempt that I made in trying to reflect on my understanding of business environment and reasons for selecting this course. Fig 1.1 Gibbs reflective cycle (source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/reflective-cycle.htm) Fig 1.2 Kolb’s model of experiential learning I am an engineer by profession and as a graduate of Master’s in Electronics and Automation, I have been introduced to business environment, marketing, economics etc. in brief. In my previous employment back in Sri Lanka, I was mainly involved in implementing projects related to improving productivity, efficiency, waste minimisation and implementing lean manufacturing. However, whilst implementing these projects I faced difficulties in terms of project implementation due to my lack of skills and knowledge in project management. Some of the difficulties I faced are changes to the scope, adapting to new changes continuously, changes to the budget, changes to company policy affecting prioritisation of projects and finally the timelines affected due to the changed schedule. Furthermore, I also did not have a clear understanding about the project lifecycle and that affected the outcome of the projects implemented negatively. I came to Australia with my wife and son as my wife was selected to study in an Australian University. Upon her completion of studies I enrolled in the course so that I can bridge the gap in my knowledge and skills in the area of project management. I feel that this course will help me perform better in the future and will equip me with necessary tools and knowledge in project management. Reflecting on the above difficulties I faced earlier, I feel that I am at the Conclusion part of Gibbs’ reflective cycle and that the course will set the foundation for me to have expertise in the area which will help me develop Action Plans to face future situations. Further, graduating from the course will be advantageous in finding a better position at my workplace and this also motivated me for further studies in project management. To be successful in the course, I intend to attend all my lectures and actively contribute to the discussions. In order to do this I will need to be well prepared by making sure that I read all the material in advance and extensively read the reference material given. Looking at Kolb’s model of experiential learning and reflecting on my past study experiences I know that I do not enjoy reading material in text version. I find it easier to understand material when they are given as drawings or figures. Therefore, moving forward I will manage my time reading the materials and making the content in to figures/drawings that makes it easier for me to remember. I also intend to learn project planning software to build projects and this is something that I identified after enrolling and attending lectures. Being able to overcome my drawbacks will help me to complete the course with high grades in all my subjects. The Master’s programme will help me successfully set up a facility that will manufacture surgical masks for the Australian market and I am looking forward to using the knowledge to execute this project at my current work place. The course will help clarify details regarding production processes, accreditation requirements, identify process control points, training and development requirements etc. The course will also help me prepare for any changes that the project will encounter and be able to adapt the budget, timeline and resources accordingly. I also plan to start my own enterprise by getting patent rights for some of my inventions and my understanding regarding the business environment and economy will help me from the outset to set up the current facility as well as my own business which I have set as a long term goal. My initial understanding of a business was that a business is a single unit that is a building block of the economy. Businesses produce products and services according to the demand of the economy and a collection of businesses create a business environment. Each business consists of money earning strategy or non-profit making desire and only internal factors can influence the success of the business. However, reflecting on the material that I read so far about business environment, I now understand that a business environment consists of stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, regulatory bodies etc. who are external to the organisation (macroeconomic factors) as well as the internal factors or microeconomic factors such as the resources, culture of the organisation and managerial dynamics etc. that can influence a business (Egbunike & Okerekeoti, 2018; Ward, Duray, Leong, & Sum, 1995). The knowledge of PESTLE analysis for external environment, SWOT analysis for internal environment and Porter’s Five Force Analysis for both external and internal environments gave me a better understanding of the importance of these for a business to be successful. I now understand that even social factors such as preferences of the customers and even changing seasons can influence a business environment. Further upon reflecting on the current global pandemic the COVID-19 I realised that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) can be affected due to the unemployment rate that a lot of countries are facing and that it has a negative impact on the global economy. In brief, in depth understanding of self-reflection would definitely support me to understand business reflection in a better manner. Thorough understanding about stakeholders and their behaviours, tools and different environments would also help me to be successful in achieving my career goal. References Carroll, M. (2010). Supervision: Critical reflection for transformational learning (Part 2). The Clinical Supervisor, 29(1), 1-19. DeFillippi, R. J. (2001). Introduction: Project-based learning, reflective practices and learning: Sage Publications Sage CA: Thousand Oaks, CA. Egbunike, C. F., & Okerekeoti, C. U. (2018). Macroeconomic factors, firm characteristics and financial performance. Asian Journal of Accounting Research. Erlandson, P. (2014). The bodily practice of acquiring skillfulness. Reflective practice, 15(6), 793-806. Healey, M., & Jenkins, A. (2000). Kolb’s experiential learning theory and its application in geography in higher education. Journal of geography, 99(5), 185-195. Markkanen, P., Välimäki, M., Anttila, M., & Kuuskorpi, M. (2020). A reflective cycle: Understanding challenging situations in a school setting. Educational Research, 62(1), 46-62. Ward, P. T., Duray, R., Leong, G. K., & Sum, C.-C. (1995). Business environment, operations strategy, and performance: an empirical study of Singapore manufacturers. Journal of operations management, 13(2), 99-115.