Reflective Practices in Organizations Enhance Performance - Essay Example

Role of Reflection and Reflective practices in organisation’s enhanced performance AFFILIATION: Table of Contents Introduction 3 What is Reflection? 4 Models used in reflection and reflective practices 5 Changing Trends in Reflective Practices 8 Implications of reflection and reflective practices in organisations 10 Conclusion 13 References 15 Appendix-I: Theory of Action for Reflective Practice as developed by York-Barr et al. (2006) 20 Appendix-II: Pendulum Flow between coding and personalization 21 Introduction The environment in which the businesses are operating these days has changed drastically from simple and less competitive form to extremely dynamic and ever changing type. Hence, in order to survive in today’s competitive environment, the managers have to ensure that the way in which business activities are being conducted in the organisation gets changed simply from responding to changes, the managers need to focus on developing a learning organisation (Solomon, 2008 and Vince, 2005). Everyone in the organisation needs to understand that collectively they can bring change in the business operations and by their support to the management they will be able to enhance the productivity of the organisation. In order to make a learning organisation, it is the responsibility of management and employees of the organisation to divert their focus from reflective practitioner at individual level to reflective form of organisation (Hoyrup, 2004). In the last couple of years, many researchers have conducted studies on the role of reflection and reflective practices in the organisation’s performance; some studies have focused on the theories of such practices (Amulya, 2003, Brockbank & McGill, 2007, Frook et al., 2007 and Svensson et al., 2008) while some have studied their implications in various forms of organisations (Confer et al., 2010, Deakin, 2012, Drefyus & Drefyus, 2005, Finlay, 2008, Greener, 2008, Vince & Saleem, 2004, Walsh, 2010). However, the most extensive works have been done by Vince (2005) and Walsh (2010) who has focussed on the traditional and modern ways for implications of reflection and reflective practices in all types of organisations that are working in distinctive fields. Hence, it is rightly stated by Walsh (2009) that it is crucial for the management and managers of the organisation to equip themselves with the various forms of reflective practices that are happening in the real world and make changes in their organisations so that they are compatible with the latest market trends and the structure supports the format required for organisational learning. What is Reflection? The researchers have been unable to give exact definition of the term ‘Reflection’ as it is composed of numerous concepts. The primary aim of reflection is to help the thinkers do critical analysis of the situations or problems that are being encountered in the organisations. The managers are encouraged to identify the problem areas, think about the remedial situations available and then select and implement the strategy alongwith proper evaluation tools (Plath, 2006 and Rollins, 2007). According to Clift and Houston (1990), cited by Solomon (2008), the reflection definition has its foundations from the Western culture that induces the managers to analyze the situation and come up with problem solving approach and avoid negotiation, illumination or deliberation. Walsh (2009) in the study indicated that reflection is something that can be learnt and for that the managers need to undergo the learning processes so that they can encourage such workplace learning environment within the organisation. The view is also supported by Johns (2006) who stated that the reflection approach helps the businesses to remain alert all the time and instead of just sitting in idle situation, it motivates them to work out the plan. Hence, it becomes important that the managers take one step forward and implement the reflective practices so that the workplace learning gets enhanced and supports the learning of the organisations (Arina, 2006). Reflection and reflective practices are not something that can be implemented in the existing business organisations; the structure and processes need to be changed so that they can support such social change in their business activities (Cottrell, 2005). However, the recent developments in the field of reflection has shown that the organisations need to change their focus from simple thinking and reflection to critical thinking which means that they have to tell the critical aspects of changing the structures of the organisation. Models used in reflection and reflective practices The concept of reflection has undergone drastic changes and it has evolved from having an individual perspective to an organisational one and it has become important for the contemporary organisations to take these factors into consideration and develop an effective approach for handling all kinds of problems and issues that arise in the organisation. Numerous studies of researchers such as Boud (2006), Ghaye et al. (2008), Hoyrup (2004), Finlay (2008) and various others have shown that the developmental stages of the reflection and reflective practices can be described as comprised of following steps of evolution: 1. John Dewey thinking of reflection – John Dewey believed that reflection is done on an individual level and it is the responsibility of the managers and management to assign this task to a professional who will undertake all the important tasks (Confer et al., 2006). John Dewey emphasized on deciding about the action for problem and he focussed on developing an ideal solution for the problems. Later on Donald Schon (1983) carried out his work and he modified the concept to say that reflection is basically a thinking process that has a totally different perspective for handling the dilemmas at hand; he categorized reflection as reflection on action, reflection in action and reflection of action. 2. Adult Education contribution in reflective practices – In this area, extensive work was done by Boud and he emphasized the need for focusing the attention on reflection in action. According to Finlay (2008), Boud conceptualized reflective practices as the process in which people think to study the linkages between the behaviours, feelings, actions and experiences; the primary idea being that the critical thinkers need to think about the relationship that exists between the knowledge gained and practiced. The concept of Boud (2006) can be expressed by the figure as developed by York-Barr et al. (2006): Source: York-Barr et al. (2006) 3. Reflection on an interactive level and organisational level – Recently, numerous studies have been done to change the ways in which reflective practices are implemented in the organisations. According to the studies of Hobbs (2007), Jacobs (2005), Morley (2007), Talbot (2012) and Walsh (2010) in various work environments, it is found that the way organisations are applying the reflective practices in their work environment has changed significantly and now the management is following a collaborative approach to solving the problems rather than handling them at individual level. The key features of reflection and reflective practices are summarized concisely by Hatlevik (2012) and Ghaye et al. (2008) as follows: 1. The focus is on organisation as a whole and not on an individual perspective; hence, it is a collaborative team effort rather than the work of single reflective practitioner duty. 2. Reflection is related to work and it should allow the people to learn while they do reflection. There is strong co-relation between learning and work; when the employees will share their experiences and thoughts, then the knowledge will be shared and some realistic action will be developed. 3. The process of reflection involves multiple stakeholders and it connects all the groups that are working within the organisation. 4. With the help of reflective practices, the developmental approaches within the organisation can be successfully implemented and it has generative and developmental approach rather than the instrumental focus. 5. The process is open and vulnerable to change as it has take into account the dynamics of the environment in which the organisations are conducting their business activities. It is rightly stated by Grushka et al. (2005), Lillyman (2008) and Lyons (2006) that the pattern of organisational workings is changing significantly as they are becoming global and with internationalization happening at such faster pace, the organisations need to change the way they are promoting learning and skills development within their premises. The right and accurate explanation of the latest trends in the organisation can be represented by the following figure as shown in the paper of York-Barr et al. (2006): Figure 1: Visual Representation of Relationship Web Among Staff Members, Strengthened by Reflective Practices Source: York-Barr et al. (2006) Changing Trends in Reflective Practices Although many researchers have tried to develop one concise and accurate model for supporting the reflective practices in the contemporary organisations so that they can implement that model perfectly; however, they have not been successful so far as there are certain guidelines that they need to abide by so that they can prosper in the changing market dynamics (Goleman, 2006 and Lougharn, 2006). Some models as developed by some researchers have been shown in Appendix-I and Appendix-II. One model as developed by Finlay (2008) is a close explanation of the reflective practices that can be implemented by organisations easily: Source: Finlay (2008) The three key elements are highlighted by the authors which are self-awareness, reflection and critical thinking. When an organisation applies all the three key elements in right way, only then it will be able to tackle all the issues that they face in their work environment. Some critics of the reflective practices have identified some loopholes in these practices which have been summarized by Ekebergh (2007), Frost (2006) and Lipp (2007) as follows: 1. The professional learning needs to be compatible with the fast pace of the changes that are happening in both the formal and informal manners. The contemporary organisations will have to remain involved in the processes of continuous evolution, change alongwith reflection. 2. The managers will have to handle the diversity that exists in the organisation in terms of the gender, ethnicity, social class, gender and disability features. The professionals will have to ensure that the diversity element is taken into account as well and it is not ignored at all. 3. Professionals will have to keep themselves up-to-date with all the latest information and share them with other members in the organisation. Hence, the information process will have to be compatible with the rapid pace of informationalization that is happening in recent times. 4. It is difficult to challenge the existing paradigms of contemporary organisations; hence, some employees will feel threatened by the target-driven policy and the managers will have to reinforce again and again the importance of the implication of the reflective practices in the organisation. Therefore, bringing a change in contemporary organisations will require considerable efforts from the manager’s and professional’s side and management will have to create supportive environment for the organisations so that the implication level of reflective practices can be evaluated on a continuous basis. When the organisation will create such collaborative and participative environment, employees will be motivated and their production level will get enhanced as well. The studies Deakin (2012), Kemmis (2005), Plath (2006), Rich (2010) and Walsh (2010) of also support this fact that reflective practices have eradicated numerous problems of the organisations and helped them in progressing successfully and competitively in the dynamic environment. Implications of reflection and reflective practices in organisations Now-a-days, the organisations have to make sure that they are the prime mover in the process of organisational knowledge creation is the individual who accumulates tacit knowledge through hands-on experience and its quality is dependent on variety and knowledge of experience gained by the individual (Svensson et al., 2008). Individual knowledge enlargement is the first step in creation of knowledge; it is done only through the interaction between the rationality and experience of the employees and management which is then crystallized into a perspective which is original for an individual. According to Loughran (2006), one of the most effective ways to implement the effective management of the creation and development of the knowledge important for the organisation and once the knowledge is created; the organisation needs to make sure that the self-organizing team is created so that the members can share the knowledge and concepts. Confer et al. (2010) and Ghaye et al. (2008) stated in their studies that the managers need to first develop the trust among everyone in the organisation that the change in the organisation will be beneficial for everyone. The reflective practices in the organisation helps the management and mangers to effectively share the knowledge and information; when the experiences of different people are gathered, the teams have various perspectives in mind they should agree on some common norms so that they will be able to make effective decisions. One of the most effective mechanisms for knowledge sharing is suggested by York-Barr et al. (2006) is as follows: Source: York-Barr et al. (2006) Hence, the concept of crystallization can be effectively applied in the organisations if they follow the right strategy for developing reflection culture in the organisation and the right strategy is implied so that the productivity of the organisation’s performance is enhanced (Walsh, 2010). Crystallization will allow the management to apply the concept of reflection on action which has been proved to be the best and most effective method for the success of the organisation. The reflection is not only about looking at what happened in the past; it means discussing and sharing the experiences that everyone goes through and then solves the problems on a collective basis (Hatlevik, 2012). Hence, the management of the organisation need to make sure that they give justification for the creation of knowledge in the business processes and the contemporary organisations have to ensure that they successfully incorporate the social changes that are happening in the environment especially the external factors (Solomon, 2008 and Talbot, 2012). It has been rightly reported in the studies of Brockbank & McGill (2007), Deakin (2012) and Frost (2006) that the organisations need to define their goals that they want to achieve by creating workplace environment and implementing the mechanisms that should be done so that the evaluation of the creation of knowledge and its implication can be successfully evaluated. The process of organisational knowledge creation is a never-ending, circular process that is not confined to the organisation but includes many interfaces with the environment. Conclusion The management needs to provide support to the managers and professionals who want to create environment in the organisation that supports the reflection and reflective practices within the organisation. In order to make sure that the organisations can apply the concepts of reflection and reflective practices appropriately, the professionals and managers need to create linkage between the dynamics of the internal environment of business processes. Hence, the theories need to be creating linkage between the real world so that real policies can be developed in accordance with the environment of the business structures. Therefore, the knowledge creation process in the organisation is important for the reflection-in-action process in them; the management and managers need to collectively develop effective and efficient manners that will create successful knowledge creation environment. It is vital for the professionals to ensure that there is no contradiction between the company information, management responsibilities and business activities so that everything is properly aligned. The information will need to be shared between every member in the organisation and the management will have to give autonomy and discretion to make decisions. Hence, when people are given the space to do critical thinking, they will feel valuable and will be willing to contribute to the organisation’s performance and productivity simultaneously. The most important factor that each contemporary organisation will have to make sure that the culture of the organisation should be kept open and every organisation needs to make sure that they allow free exchange of information and other important business activities so that trust between everyone gets enhanced. Therefore, the contemporary organisations need to realize the importance of creating knowledge in their premises; hence, in today’s competitive environment, the organisations need to make sure that they are able to compete successfully by changing the way in which business processes and activities are conducted. References Amulya, J., 2003. What is Reflective Practice? [Online] Available at: http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/whatisreflectivepractice.pdf [Accessed 22 June 2012] Arina, T., 2006. Blogs as Reflective Perspective. [Online] Available at: http://learningwithwikis.wikispaces.com/file/view/Wikis_%26_Blogs_as_Reflective_Practice.pdf [Accessed 22 June 2012] Boud, D., 2006. Relocating reflection in the context of practice: Rehabilitation or rejection? [Online] Available at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/medicine/meu/lifelong06/P_DavidBoud.pdf [Accessed 22 June 2012] Brockbank, A. and McGill, I., 2007. Facilitating reflective learning in higher education. 2nd ed. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. Confer, J., Easton, J., Fleischman, D., Goetz, C., Lewis, D., Perilloux, C. and Buss, D., 2010. Evolutionary psychology: controversies, questions, prospects and limitations. American Psychologist, 65(2), pp. 110-126 Cottrell, S., 2005. Critical thinking skills. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Deakin, J.M., 2012. Learning through reflection: the interface of theory and practice in public health. [Online] Available at: http://www.waceinc.org/bahcesehir2012/cp/refereed/Australia/Jan%20Moore%20Deakin%20University%20(Research)%20Learning%20through%20reflection%20-%20the%20interface%20of%20theory%20and%20practice%20in%20public%20health.pdf [Accessed 22 June 2012] Dreyfus, H. L. and Dreyfus, S. E., 2005. Expertise in Real World Contexts. Organisation Studies, 26(5), pp. 779–792. Ekebergh, M., 2007. Lifeworld-based reflection and learning: a contribution to the reflective practice in nursing and nursing education. 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[Online] Available at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/conf/olkc/archive/olkc3/papers/contribution115.pdf [Accessed 22 June 2012] Walsh, A., 2009. Modes of Reflection: Is it possible to use both individual and collective reflection to reconcile the ‘three party knowledge interests’ in workplace learning? European Journal of Education, 44(3), pp. 385-398 Walsh, A., 2010. Using Reflection in Workplace Learning: Is it possible to use both individual and collective reflection to reconcile the ‘three-party knowledge interests’ in the workplace? [Online] Available at: www.bbk.ac.uk/bill/news-and-events/BILL20Jan10.doc [Accessed 22 June 2012] York-Barr, J., Sommer, W.A., Ghere, G.S. and Jo Montie, 2006. Reflective Practice to Improve Schools: An Action Guide for Educators. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Appendix-I: Theory of Action for Reflective Practice as developed by York-Barr et al. (2006) Appendix-II: Pendulum Flow between coding and personalization Source:Arina (2006) Read More