Workshop Experience - Essay Example

Reflective Practice Journal Week 4: Leadership in a work place environment Having been given a leadership position in my work place, I found the content of the workshop topic directly relevant and practical. I picked massive information and a lot of handy hints in relation to leadership. I was enlightened on various leadership styles and specifically those which my workplace culture encouraged. In my work place, most workers exhibit both formal and informal leadership. For instance, some people have been placed on leadership position for the purpose of influencing other people towards the achievement of the organization’s goal; this are considered as the formal leaders. On the other hand, other individuals influence others towards the achievement of the organization’s goal through their talents and skills; this are considered as the informal leaders. A good example of formal leadership in my work place involves the CEO of the organization who has been appointed to a high position. My workmate Chelsea also portrays a good example of Informal leadership since she tends to influence the majority of us into a certain direction irrespective of her humble position in the organization. In my work place, the organization encourages a democratic leadership style whereby individuals are given the freedom to participate in the decision making process. They normally attribute this to the promotion of creativity which comes handy with the freedom. My work place supervisor portrayed a high level of democratic leadership style in that he provided me with a large room for expression and decision making. This prompted a lot of creativity and I ended up coming up with brilliant ideas considering the leadership position I had been offered. In conclusion to the workshop’s topic in week 4, I learnt that there are various leadership styles and each style has its own advantages and disadvantages dependent on the situation. Week 5: Teamwork in a workplace context. The workshop enlightened me on teamwork which I considered to be very essential on a daily bases in my work place. Various issues surrounding team work were discussed and we all gave our opinions regarding the topic. The week went on smoothly and it gave me a chance to withdraw negative perceptions I held towards teamwork. The idea of team work was greatly supported in the work place and employees tended to work more in groups rather than individually. Before joining the organization, I considered working individually as more effective and convenient than working in groups since fewer conflicts were likely to occur. Therefore, I held a negative attitude towards the team theme that the organization held during the orientation phase. However, after a few weeks in the organization, I started developing a positive attitude towards teamwork due to the many benefits that it produced. During the work shop, various means of improving team work in a work place were highlighted. The main ones included: participation in team building activities for both the employees and employers, job sharing and holding of social gatherings/parties. Despite the fact that the company encouraged team work, it needed to incorporate more team based activities to place it at a higher level. Week 6: Managing quality customer service in the leisure industries With the leisure industries as a booming business, a topic on quality customer service in the leisure industry was looked at during the workshop. It emerged to be a very interesting topic in which most people greatly participated in. Information regarding the importance of quality customer service came up very clearly. Considering my workplace which is a good example of a leisure business, customer care is not highly regarded. Instead, a lot of focus is placed on the business activities leaving behind customer care as a lowly considered department. This has played a major role in occurrence of conflicts between the employees in the organization and the public who include the clients and other stake holders. One thing that got me by surprise is that poor customer care could lead to the collapse of any business. Customers were considered to as the pillar of any existing business and they play a major role for its existence. It also occurred to me that the customer is always right and as an employee, I should focus on meeting the customer’s needs. Most clients who visited the organization complained of the poor customer service they received from the personnel they came into contact with. At the end of that week’s workshop, it emerged that high quality customer care prompted the success of any business. I therefore suggested to my supervisor on the need of improving the quality of customer care in the organization. My supervisor took it positively and decided to implement it in the organization. Week 7: Core principles of corporate social responsibility During this week, I learnt on the core principles of corporate social responsibility. In addition various issues on ethical behavior were raised. I also got a chance to ask questions on corporate social responsibility. The entire period was ok and the workshop ran smoothly. During my work placement in the organization, I realized that the organization observed corporate social responsibility and used it as a basic strategy for its success. It carefully adhered to the law, regulations, ethical standards as well as the international norms. Consequently, the organization greatly benefited from it, and also increased its publicity throughout the country. It was also during the placement that I realized to the extent to which the organization engaged in community based programs/projects such as philanthropic work. After a thorough research as to why they did it, I learnt that it did it for the purposes of deliberate inclusion of public interest into its system. From the information obtained, I realized that organizations greatly benefited from the practice of corporate social responsibility. Mainly due to their operations in broader and longer terms unlike when they use their immediate, short term profits. Therefore, it is imperative that organizations incorporate social responsibility into their systems. Week 8: Performance management, reward systems and promotional practices Having observed many ways in which performance management, reward systems and promotional practices were carried out, I found the workshop on this topic very relevant and crucial. The workshop assisted me to grasp ideas which were initially not clear. The organization put a lot of focus on the performance of its workers. It ensured that the workers produced excellent results in their work. During my first week in the placement, I had put a little focus on my performance and therefore ended up with poor results during the weekly evaluation. I therefore sat down with my supervisor who clearly explained to me on what was expected in terms of performance. With the assistance of my supervisor, I greatly worked towards peak performance in the coming weeks. In addition, the organization used team based and individual reward system to reward the employees who performed up to standards. This greatly motivated the workers to work up to standards so as to come up with excellent results. During my work placement, I was lucky enough to be awarded on two occasions. This acted as a great booster towards my performance. The organization also used a number of promotional strategies which acted effectively in promoting the company’s image as well as increasing the client base. Normally, promotion acts to the benefit of an organization in creating public awareness. Consequently, the return rate increased due to the increase in demand. Week 9: Risk management in leisure industries The discussion on risk management in leisure activities turned out well. I learnt on the benefits of managing risks in leisure industries. In the past, risks were considered to be part and parcel of an organization. Therefore, most organizations played an insignificant or totally no role in managing them. Recently, organizations have realized the benefits of risk management and have taken a step forward into incorporating the activity into their main programs During my work placement, I realized that a number of risk management strategies had been put into place. Some of them included: fire extinguishers placed at strategic points in the building and various leisure facilities, enactment of rules and regulations in which everyone was expected to observe, a number of first aid kits, ambulances among others. I played a significant role in ensuring that all the clients and other stakeholders who visited the premise observed the enacted rules and regulations. This guaranteed their safety as well as protecting the organization. Week 10: Conflict resolution/ problem solving The topic on conflict resolution/problem solving was very enlightening. This is due to the fact that, conflicts and problems occur on a daily basis in any organization. Therefore, the organization is required to devise means and ways in which to resolve the conflicts and problems. The process may be involving but it produces the required results During the work placement, I happened to experience a number of conflicts and problems. The problems and conflicts emanated from both internal and external factors. Some of the internal factors included my attitude and personality while the external factors included the program itself, duties allocated and my relationship with my workmates. The good thing is that my supervisor assisted me to overcome and manage these challenges. For instance, a conflict resulted when one of the workers confronted me during the execution of my assignment in the field, due to the loss of temper I fought back by use of vulgar language which my opponent did not take kindly. We therefore ended up punching back at one another. Later on, my supervisor came in and intervened. During the work placement, I noticed that, most conflicts occurred in the organization as a result of poor relationships among the employees and undefined or unclear goals in the organization. The conflicts greatly affected the general performance in the organization. On the other hand, problems led to the stagnation of the organization’s processes and activities. It is therefore imperative that the management focuses on mitigating the problems and conflicts. However, the manner in which the conflicts and problems are resolved is critical. Some means may lead to the pilling up of conflicts and problems rather than solving them. The workshop therefore played an important role in that it enabled me to have a clear picture on the various ways of mitigating conflicts and problems Week 11: Building interpersonal relationships/establishing networks Interpersonal relationships/establishing networks topic was well addressed during the workshop. Both theoretical and practical aspect was looked at during the exploration of the topic. I considered the mode of transmitting information as educative and involving. Consequently, I tended to grasp the ideas very fast and enjoyed the whole process. I observed that the organization put more of its focus on building interpersonal relationships and establishing networks. Mainly through the contacts that it maintained with other stakeholders and creation of projects which played a major role in building interpersonal relationships. For example, the organization remained with the client’s and other stake holder’s telephone and email contacts as one of its policy. Therefore, I worked towards this specific goal and ensured that whatever I did was in support of the goal. The networking and the improved interpersonal relationships aspect worked to the benefit of the organization. During the work placement, I learnt on various ways to establish networks and to build interpersonal relationships. Week 12: Innovative and creative work places Week 12 of the work shop was successful and the topic on innovative and work places was immensely explored. For an organization to climb the ladder, then it should continuously engage in innovation work as well as creating opportunities for creativity During the workshop, I learnt that innovation involved creation of new ideas which were later incorporated in the main program of an organization. I also discovered that, it was through provision of creative work places that creativity grew in any organization. Most organizations focus on innovation in order to top up to the current standards and provide opportunities for creativity. The work places provided a creative and innovative avenue to the workers. It continuously innovate new products which positively impact on the organization. In conclusion, the workshop was very beneficial with a lot of learning. Read More