paraphrasing a reflection essay
modz 91OCD Reflective Journal 2
Reflection
As a student, I think that the approach provided in OCD this semester was interesting and different than other subjects I have taken. It requires many reading, research and understanding of how organizations do change which I find to be challenging and requires my full attention to fully understand the content the unit requires for me to do. Other than the content, having an accurate referencing style and being able to connect both the company chosen with the theories and model can difficult specially being able to pick theories or models that is related to the company.
There are many assessments I found to be very helpful which improved my knowledge and learnings. The Individual Exposition Essay was one of the most challenging assessments because it requires a lot of readings, and research for the assessment that being an individual assessment made it more difficult than it really seems to be. Also, the group written assessment was also helpful as it requires for the group to pick a company and implement the theories to the specific company chosen which was Apple. however it was easier than the individual written essay since the group knew about most of the theories and content of the unit.
The least helpful activity or assessment in this unit was the individual notes on literature. This individual notes on literature took five weeks which requires reading and summarizing for only 5 marks which I found to be very low grade on a very big effort. Even though this helped me understand some of the basic theories for change I think it should have not been included in this unit because it took a lot of my time for just 1 mark a week. Also, Learning Reflection Journal 1 was not necessary at all since I personally didn’t gain knowledge of this journal since most of my research was general and I had no idea what I should really reflection myself with.
Graduate Capabilities
· Working both autonomously and collaboratively
OCD made me depend on myself and prepare with my readings two weeks before my individual assessments since it requires a lot of readings and research. I only had the unit guide which was unclear at specific points and can be confusing at times which made me more focused on the unit than any other unit. This made me work with minimum supervision since it requires me to be independent and use problem techniques to try and use the best theories and methods for my assessments. When it comes to working in groups, it gave me less pressure since work is divided to each team member however one team member had problems with his part which forced me and others to do part of his work. This helped me be aware than sometimes team work can have downsides and I need to be prepared for any issues I might face.
· Work in an environmentally, socially and culturally responsible manner
With the assessments given specifically the group assessments since it requires to be very specific and requires the group to discuss what the main issue is with the best solution for it. Working with people with diversity is a big advantage since everyone has their own different experience that when sharing those experience to the group it would give an outstanding outcome for the group. Furthermore, it would give all team member’s their opinion which would give us an wide range of solution for us to pick which makes everyone more responsible as a worker.
What really gave me positive experiences when working in a group is the ability to communicate using emails and whatsapp and work in a group meetings which made the team understand each other and share everyone’s different experience. Although we as a team encountered issues such as one team member not being able to come to a meeting or not being able to contact him.
Developing skills mentioned can prepare me for working in present or future organizations. With meeting, emails and sharing ideas with team members, it would help gain experience for my future especially when it comes to having diversity in the group. The pitch assessment also helped us communicate with many people which gave us a strong communication skills toward others.
Change and Sustainability
Many organizations face a variety of obstacles, but when it comes to change in the organization, it’s important to understand theories, approaches and models to overcome these obstacles (Gibson 2006). Organizations now a day need to change and avoid any pollution to try and become greener. To help do that many theories need to be applied and sometimes only one is enough depending on the status of the organization (Dunphy, Griffith & Benn 2007).
There are many theories and models that can be used for organizations that would be beneficial for both internal and external stakeholders. Two of the well-known theories are Kanter et al.’s Ten Commandments for executing change and Kotter’s Eight-stage Model for organizational change which as identified by By (2005, p.376) that people will not care for change if they don’t see the need to do so.
One of the greatest theories based on research is the sphere of sustainability where Lousier (2010) states that organizations tend to use only two of the three pillars which are environmental, economic and social pillars that if they use all the pillars together it would give outstanding results to the company that would make the company sustainable and eco-friendly to the society.
“The sphere of sustainability” needs all three pillars to joint together to apply the theory. To make this clear and give a good example, a simple and easy example would be an automobile company. The company itself needs change its materials and goods that would help the organization reduce pollution which include the environment pillar where the company can create recycling cars that would help reuse its elements, the social pillar where the company would implement charging stations around the country to help motivate the community to buy hybrid cars and lastly, the economic pillar where the company would create hybrid cars which is inexpensive compare to normal ones.
Another important model that needs to put in consideration for organizations are the waves of sustainability model where organizations need to identify where their position exactly in this is so that they would know how to reach the final wave which is the most sustainable wave which transforms any business to a sustainable business (Dunphy, Griffith & Benn 2007). Moreover, technology and Innovation strategies needs to be put in consideration for organizations to proceed to the next wave and improve positive outcomes within the organization (Vorhies & Morgan 2005).
References
By, RT 2005, ‘Organizational Change Management: A Critical Review’, Journal of Change Management, vol 5, no. 4, pp.369-380.
Dunphy, D, Griffiths, A & Benn, S 2007, Organizational Change for Corporate Sustainability, 2nd edn, Routledge, London and New York.
Gibson, RB 2006, ‘Beyond the pillars: Sustainability assessment as a framework for effective integration of social economic, ecological considerations in significant decision-making’, Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy & Management, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 259-280.
Lousier, JD 2010, Sustainable Economy II: Sustainability Models, BC Institute of Social Ecology, Cowichan Bay.
Vorhies, DW & Morgan, NA 2005, ‘Benchmarking marketing capabilities for sustainable competitive advantage’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 80-94.
OCD Mansour Behbehani - 4085474 3