Reflective Exploration Theoretical Insights

Introduction

Reflective writing is related to description as well as analysis of personal qualities so that one can understand the aspects and values they required to improve to achieve better personal efficiency to execute any task. It also informs others regarding their personal strength which they can use to achieve quality work results. In this essay, a key personal strength is to be discussed and it is to be explored in depth to understand the true efficiency of the strength to be applied at work. The discussion and exploration are to be done by using different theoretical underpinnings.

Definition and description of quality

My personal quality of executing effective communication in both verbal and non-verbal manner is a key strength possessed by me. Communication skill is defined as one’s ability to convey or share ideas as well as feelings in an effective manner (Rasipuram, 2016). As mentioned by Baccarani and Bonfanti (2015), effective verbal and non-verbal communication skills are essential to deliver as well as receive information in an accurate and correct manner. This is because effective communication skill leads to develop proper interaction between one another as well as among others to effectively share information. Thus, my strength of effective communication offered me the efficiency to receive as well as deliver information in an accurate manner during my module as I was able to develop proper interaction required for understanding and sharing information. The description of my quality can be presented by using Gibb’s reflective cycle. The Gibb’s reflective cycle is referred as the theoretical underpinning through which precise knowledge about personal attributes can be identified by examination of the practice or condition (Hussein, 2018). The Gibb’s reflective cycle involves six steps which are as follows to be used in describing my strength:

Description: During the course of my module, in session 2 where introduction regarding Enterprise was being informed by the lecturer I was unable to understand many of the information. Thus, I asked him for further clarification at the end of the class when he just going to finish answering question to one of the students. The person asked me to wait and then completing replying to the other student-initiated to inform what I wanted and I by maintaining a polite tone again asked the lecturer to further elaborate the information in a clear manner by mentioning the specific points that I did not understood. The lecturer personally tried to elaborate the points mentioned and I nodded whenever I understood as well as maintained eye contact during the conversation. I avoided interrupting the person while speaking and afterwards again asked in a polite manner to explain the points that I was still unable to understand. The lecturer explained properly and by the end of the session I was able to understand what Enterprise actually meant.

Feelings: At the end of the session, I thought of asking question because I feel that interrupting in the middle of the lecture would be disrespectful. Moreover, I maintained proper tone of the voice as I felt that it an effective way to show respect. I clearly mentioned the points I was unable to understand because I felt that it is way in which I can ask for proper elaboration from the lecturer. Moreover, while making eye contact I felt that it is way I can make the lecturer understand that I am actively listening to the person.

Evaluation: The interruption during conversation indicates that the person is not properly listened which makes them avoid to further communicate properly (Finch et al. 2017). This is because the person communicating feels lack of value. Thus, my act of communicating to put questions forward at the end of the class was a good approach to avoid interruption. However, I think that I should have raised my hand in the class before asking question to get permission as it may have created unnecessary interruption while replying to others by the lecturer. Moreover, I think that proper mentioning of the points that I did not understand was a good approach to effective communication as it would lead the lecturer to understand which information is actually wished to be known by me. I also think that maintain eye contact was good as it helped me to inform the lecturer that the person’s explanations are properly listened by me.

Analysis: The situation made me understood that I have effective knowledge of executing verbal communication along with managing non-verbal skills. This is because during the conversation I able to avoid interruption and showed respect as well as executed clarified conversation which is some of the key aspects of effective communication.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that I have effective verbal as well as non-verbal skills for executing communication. However, I also think that I require further upgrading of my knowledge to avoiding interrupting during conversation within the class.

Action Plan: In the future, I would work on my patience and would try to educate myself through personal training regarding the way I can avoid unnecessary interruption during communication.

Explaining and evaluating the quality

In order to explain and evaluate my personal quality of establishing effective communication, I am going to use the Johari Window model. The Johari Window has four regions which are open area, blind area, hidden area and unknown area. The open area of the model informs what is known by the person regarding their personal quality that is also known to others (Tran, 2016). As per this area, I know that I have proper verbal and non-verbal skills of executing effective communication. This is evident as I maintain proper tone of voice as non-verbal skill while interacting. Moreover, I tried to provide clarified information to establish effective verbal communication in many cases. The study of Barcelos et al. (2018), informs that proper tone of voice helps to show respect during communication and avoiding delivering clarified information assists to establish effective verbal communication. The information regarding the qualities mentioned I possess is also known by the lecturer and the students in the class because they have never reported against me of disrespecting them by raising my voice. Moreover, the lecturer also knew I always put forward questions in a clarified manner which is evident as he has never reported during the module to have never understood of what I spoke or asked the person. Thus, it can be mentioned that I have proper personal quality of executing effective communication by using verbal and non-verbal skills as my lecturers as well as my friends in the class never reported against my communication skill. Moreover, I know how to present non-verbal and verbal skills to ensure effective establishment of communication.

The blind area of the model informs what is known to others and not by the person regarding their quality (Naumovski et al. 2017). As per this area, I found that my lecturer though never reported but shows a disturbed expression when I ask the person any question without permission. This is evident as during the module when I asked the lecturer out of turn to provide explanation regarding introduction to enterprise the person was slightly disappointed of me speaking out of turn. Later, the lecturer personally asked me that I should not talk out of turn as it creates interruption and raises my hand before asking any question or initiating communication in the class. The interruption during communication shows disrespect to the communicator which makes the person feels lack of value to communicate (Ikaria-Maina, 2015). Thus, it can be understood that I did not knew that I lack the quality of avoiding interruption that is one of the key skill required for effective communication. However, the lecturer mentions that I do maintain eye contact with the person while talking that makes the individual feel actively listened. I was not sure whether I maintain direct eye contact during lecture as I am more concentrated on listening to the information presented by the lecturer. Thus, it can be mentioned that I do not that I execute interruption unnecessarily but maintain eye contact with the lecturer while communicating.

The hidden area of the model informs what the person knows about their quality which others do not know (Ghimire et al. 2016). As per the area, I am well-informed that I require nodding to make the communicator understand I am actively listening to them while communicating. This is because nodding is referred as positive expression to mean that the information mentioned by the communication during conversation is well-understood (Mark et al. 2016). However, the lecturer reported that the person do not know that I actually nod to inform that I understood the individual and reported that it was thought as a normal gesture. This was informed when I asked the lecture if the person found any of my expression offensive or disrespectful during communication in the course of the module. The unknown area refers to the things that are personally unknown to the person as well as others regarding their quality (Ghimire et al. 2016). As per this area, when I asked the lecturer if I maintained an open posture while communicating as I was not sure of my posture while interacting with the individual in the class the person informed that the individual did not paid much concentration on my posture. Thus, it remains unknown to me as well as the lecturer whether I maintain open posture while communicating with them as it an essential skill for effective conversation. This is because open posture also indicates attentive and active listening attitude of the listener (PeleckienÄ and Polajeva, 2016).

My effective communication was strength for me as by developing proper interaction with the lecturer I was able to develop clear knowledge regarding what enterprise and entrepreneurship mean and the way 7Ps business model is used in a business. This is evident from the instance when at the end of the class in session two I had many doubts regarding what is the actual introduction to enterprise. However, I started to communicate with the lecturer by mentioning the hindrances I faced with the understanding of the information presented. The lecturer thoroughly understood my specific weak points and provided further explanation based on the points without ever avoiding to contact with me. This made me understood that I have both effective verbal and non-verbal communication skills due to which I could keep the lecturer engaged to further elaborate the points to get proper understand regarding meaning of enterprise.

Attributes, behavioural preferences and values underpinning the strength

The attributes of maintaining lower voice tone while communicating underpin my strength of executing effective communication. This is because lower voice tone shows politeness and helps to provide respect and ensures dignity of the individual which creates value to make the individual remain engaged in communication (Cheng et al. 2016). Moreover, my behavioural preference for being a motivating person underpins my strength of executing effective communication. This is evident as I always try to nod while another person is informing something to make the person feel the individual is actively listened and understood. The feeling of being actively listened makes individual to feel motivated to communicate further because active listening showcase respect and value of the individual (Roseano et al. 2016).

My attribute of maintaining direct eye contact with the person while communicating makes the individual feel they are also actively listened. This result to show my strength of executing effective communication as through this attribute I am able to make the individual indulge in further conversation out of respect and value and avoid disrupting the conversation in the middle to show avoidance to further talk with me. It is evident as my lecturer never avoided to communicate or solve my queries through interaction whenever I asked the individual about the hindrances to understand any fact presented in the class.

My attribute of speaking in clarified manner underpin my strength related to executing effective communication. This is because providing clarified message while communicating helps in establishing effective communication as the communicator understand what they require to inform further to ensure continuation of the conversation (Natali and McClanahan, 2017). For instance, in case I have asked questions that are not mentioned in a clear way to the lecturer it would make the individual feel lack of understanding on which basis the person need to elaborate to ensure continuation of the conversation. This would have created hindrance in establishing effective communication and my difficulties with understanding meaning of enterprise would have remained unresolved.

In the workshop exercises related to Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, I often found it challenging of initiating to communicate with taking prior consent from the lecturer and others. This is because most of the time when I thought of asking for permission to speak I found that other students in the workshop would take chances on my behalf to ask their queries regarding any issues with understanding the information presented in the place. Thus, I would lag behind in initiating to communicate with the lecture to resolve my personal queries regarding the facts presented by them which are not clearly understood by me. As per the Johari Window model, the challenge of interrupting is faced by me which is a barrier to effective communication because it falls under the blind area. This means that the information regarding the way to improve the skill is not known to me or I am not aware of the challenging skill in particular whereas other knows it due to which I am facing the difficulty (Hamzah et al. 2016). It means that the interruption is done by me unintentionally which is required to be resolved. This is because interruption or speaking without permission is rude way of communicating which results in disrespecting the communicator, in turn, creating hindered communication.

I also lack confidence as the challenge while communicating to understand any information in the workshop. It is evident as I personally feel being mocked to ask repetitive question regarding facts related to introduction of enterprise and entrepreneurship presented by the lecturer in the workshop. As result, I sometimes skip asking information while communicating to avoid humiliation. This is because I feel that the queries asked by me may be lame and the lecturer in the workshop is becoming irritated personally to reply my queries even though the person shows no expression to reveal it. As per the Johari Window model, the hidden area informs what is known by the person regarding their qualities but not known by others (Hinner, 2017). Thus, the skill of speaking with confidence while communicating is a challenge for me as I know the reason behind it. However, the lecturer does not understand the lack of skill and thus the person did not mention regarding the skill while communicating with me.

Contradictions

My personal strength is my communication skill but there are instances when the fact is contradicted because others were seen to be more effective in making proper communication in comparison to me. This can be identified from the instance during session 3 where information regarding idea development and business modelling was being informed in the workshop. The key to effective communication is to be complete it so that both of the communicator and listener are satisfied with the part played in the conversation (Wang et al. 2016). During the session, it was seen that I tried to communicate with the lecturer to inform regarding the way promotion related to 7Ps business model is involved in enterprise and entrepreneurship as the fact was not being understood by me. The lecturer thought explained me in different ways I was still unable to get clarification regarding the model that the individual informed during the conversation which led me develop an incomplete communication. However, I found that one of the other students who had similar query regarding promotion aspect of the model developed communication with the lecturer and was successful to understand the information presented by the lecturer during conversation within less time and better efficiency than me. This may have happened because I was unable to provide clarified points to the lecturer during the query based on which the explanations is to be done during the communication. Thus, the individual though tried to inform all the information to queries yet I was not able to get proper answers through the conversation. However, the other student may have provided better clarification regarding the information the individual wishes to receive from the lecturer that has result them to form better and complete communication where both of them are satisfied with the interaction.

Ways the strength is going to help in future

My quality of being able to execute effective communication is going to help me in future to make myself motivated to learn and execute activities in a better way. This is because effective communication leads individuals to remain clear about the way they are to perform their activities which help to clear any confusion and motivates the person to execute the activity with success (Gillis et al. 2015). The strength of effective communication quality is also going to help me in future to make proper decision as well as choose alternative ways for executing actions. This is because proper communication helps the individual to remain informed in a clear manner about the various ways of executing activities and this information is used to resolve challenges at work as well as in making proper decisions to perform the actions in an effective way (Hsu et al. 2016). The effective communication quality in future would also help me in future to properly socialise at work as well as establish effective communication to collaboratively work within a team without creating duplication in actions. This is because effective communication skill helps individuals to share information within team members regarding which role to be performed by which members thus avoiding confusion and duplication at work (Brink and Costigan, 2015).

In future, to improve my strength of executing effective communication I need to work on my body language, clarity, avoiding of interruption and other aspects related to communication. This is because proper body language and avoiding interruption during conversation helps individuals to show respect as well as indicates active listening motivating the other person to participate effectively to form a complete and successful interaction. Further, clarity helps in development of meaningful conversation without ending it in incomplete way. I would improve the specified aspects related to establishment of effective communication by participating in a training program for communication. Moreover, I would interact with other experienced individuals who are able to execute effective communication to understand the ways and develop knowledge regarding the way I can make my strength of effective communication better than the present.

Conclusio

The above discussion informs that my key strength in the study session was able to execute effective communication. This is evident from the explanation done by using Gibb’s reflective cycle where due to my effective communication ability I was able to develop proper information evaluation regarding the confusion related to the topic being taught in session 2. However, while of the quality through John Window theory it was seen that I cause interruption in communication which is affecting my strength to be lower. It was also found that during session 2 I faced issues with ensuring clarity in conversation that was the previous strength factor was considered by me under effective communication. Thus, I am going to take proper training in communication as well as develop information from other experienced individuals regarding the way to establish effective communication to further improve my quality.

References

Baccarani, C. and Bonfanti, A., 2015. Effective public speaking: a conceptual framework in the corporate-communication field. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 20(3), pp.375-390.
Barcelos, R.H., Dantas, D.C. and Sénécal, S., 2018. Watch your tone: How a brand's tone of voice on social media influences consumer responses. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 41, pp.60-80.
Barcelos, R.H., Dantas, D.C. and Sénécal, S., 2018. Watch your tone: How a brand's tone of voice on social media influences consumer responses. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 41, pp.60-80.
Brink, K.E. and Costigan, R.D., 2015. Oral communication skills: Are the priorities of the workplace and AACSB-accredited business programs aligned?. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 14(2), pp.205-221.
Cheng, J.T., Tracy, J.L., Ho, S. and Henrich, J., 2016. Listen, follow me: Dynamic vocal signals of dominance predict emergent social rank in humans. Journal of experimental psychology: general, 145(5), p.536.
Finch, E., Cameron, A., Fleming, J., Lethlean, J., Hudson, K. and McPhail, S., 2017. Does communication partner training improve the conversation skills of speech-language pathology students when interacting with people with aphasia?. Journal of communication disorders, 68, pp.1-9.
Ghimire, B., Annussek, K., Harvey, J., Sharma, S., Pera, J., Odrobina, A., Hinner, M.B., Stępień, B., Lima, A.P., Sagbansua, L. and Dryl, W., 2016. Economics and Business. Poznań University of Economics and Business Press, 2(16), pp.17-23.
Gillis, A.E., Morris, M.C. and Ridgway, P.F., 2015. Communication skills assessment in the final postgraduate years to established practice: a systematic review. Postgraduate medical journal, 91(1071), pp.13-21.
Hamzah, M.I., Othman, A.K., Hassan, F., Razak, N.A. and Yunus, N.A.M., 2016. Conceptualizing a Schematic Grid View of Customer Knowledge from the Johari Window's Perspective. Procedia Economics and Finance, 37, pp.471-479.
Hamzah, M.I., Othman, A.K., Hassan, F., Razak, N.A. and Yunus, N.A.M., 2016. Conceptualizing a Schematic Grid View of Customer Knowledge from the Johari Window's Perspective. Procedia Economics and Finance, 37, pp.471-479.
Hsu, P.F., Lin, E.P. and Tsai, C.W., 2016. Optimal Selection of Business Managers for Integrated Marketing Communications Companies Using AHP and GRA. International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (IJCRMM), 7(2), pp.16-29.
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Value Added Assessment

I was engaged in the value-added element related to enterprise and entrepreneurship where there was total of three session executed to information regarding the topic. During the course of the element, the lecturer informed that we are free to communicate in the class after the end of each session and all our queries would be resolved. The lecturer provided introduction regarding what enterprise and entrepreneurship actually mean. During the engagement in the value-added element, I learned that I have effective communication skills due to which I could resolve my confusion and develop an effective understanding regarding all the facts presented in the session. This is evident in all the session executed during the course. b brb
In session one, the lecturer informed about the way to start a new business and the challenges as well as tasks related to it. During the session, the lecturer informed that starting a new business required innovation as well as creativity to stand out in the market. I was unable understand what does the person actually meant by “innovation” and “creativity”. At the end of the class, I waited for my turn to ask the lecturer to inform me about the two words and the difference between them. While I asked the question, the lecturer informed that I need to have patience as the person was replying to another student regarding their query. I waited and the lecture started to inform me of the difference between the two terms. However, it was still not clear to me so I asked the lecturer to explain to me the facts through a real-life example. This made the lecturer understand in a clear manner regarding how I wish the facts to be presented that offered the person scope to effectively resolve my query. As I started to understand the facts, I nodded in response along with maintaining a smile on my face to indicate that I understood whatever the lecturer is explaining. This made me understand that I have proper knowledge about the importance of positive gesture and direct eye contact required for establishing effective communication.
Another instance where I understood my strength was effective communication when introduction regarding enterprise and enterprise value was being informed. At this time, it was informed that enterprise is formed with someone’s action who takes up risk in setting and running a business. I was confused regarding the part that whether the mentioned someone is also the one who invest in the business. Thus, I jotted the point to be later asked in the c

At the end of the class, when the lecturer just was about to finish answering another student regarding their confusion I immediately asked the lecturer in a polite manner to resolve my confusion regarding the meaning of enterprise. The lecturer informed me to wait again but after some time inform me that I was right as well as explained other facts to help me develop better concept regarding what enterprise actually is and the way it performs their actions. During the course of the explanation, I further asked more question to reach better clarification regarding enterprise and the lecturer without any issue informed me all the facts I wished to know. Moreover, I maintained direct eye contact with the lecturer while communication which informs that I understand how to actively list
en to the individual as maintaining eye contact is one of the key parts in establishing effective communication. In the second session, the lecturer further introduced the enterprise value. I became confused in this aspect regarding the way to calculate enterprise value. At the end of the session, I asked the lecturer to also explain to me the way of calculating the enterprise value. The lecturer verbally informed me about the fact but I was still unable to understand and so I communicated in a polite manner to show me an example if possible to explain the fact. This made the lecturer clarified that I wished the individual to use an instance or approx values for helping me understand calculating enterprise value. The lecturer explained the facts in th

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