Reflective Learning and the Reflective Practitioner - Essay Example

Reflective Learning and the Reflective Practitioner Department: As a manager, one is expected to be good enough in carryingout his/ her tasks of being a figurehead, monitor, leader, liaison, disseminator, spokesperson, entrepreneur, negotiator and resource allocator (Gomez-Mejia, et. al, 2008, p. 19). After my successful completion of my degree program and graduating with a first Class Honors in Bachelors of Business Management, I was confident that I could handle all roles that were expected of a manager.

I thereafter decided to go over ceases, Kenya in Africa to be precise, for my internship programs at a well established company, the Bata Shoe Company, as an assistance operational manager. My reception at the company was quite good and promising because the company expected a lot from me since I had come from one of the most developed countries; guaranteeing me the opportunity to must have come with more ideas than had been. Due to my most expected exposure, I was taken to the core section of management (operation management) to initiate and help implement strategies that would increase the amount of returns earned from the company’s products.

The first challenge, and the most crucial one, was based on the mode of communication. In Kenya English is the official language, while Kiswahili is the national language. Therefore, most people largely used and were fluent in Kiswahili than they were in English. On the contrary, I could only speak English, and a little bit of the French. Other limiting factors were to do with the social and environmental challenges. In the first instances, these factors inhibited my performance to a level that I equally thought that the environment was not fit for me; reason being that it had affected my ability to showcase the benefits to the company.

From this, I came to learn that excellent performance in academics does not guarantee a successful performance in the real life situations. As a solution, I had to attend classes on Kiswahili language, socialize and interact more with the local for social acceptance, and change my lifestyle for the purpose of environmental adaptation and appreciation. BibliographyGomez-Mejia, Luis R., David, B.B. and Robert, L. C. (2008). Management: People, Performance, Change, 3rd edition. New York, New York USA: McGraw-Hill. p. 19 ISBN 978-0-07-302743-2