MNGT322b annotated portfolio PDF

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Annotated portfolio...

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2017/2018 Theme, Objectives and Aims of this Portfolio

As time has passed and my initial expectations and predictions about my placement have shifted, I will present a slightly different evidence than what I have anticipated in my Learning Agreement at the beginning of my placement. As the organisation developed, my job role and responsibilities have developed and changed drastically as well - resulting in a more creative job role. My biggest takeaway from my placement was learning about different organisational communication styles as well as the opportunities to learn from my direct and indirect colleagues."

Introduction

As a x at x, I was responsible for supporting the x with the day-to-day business tasks and marketing activities. My day-to-day tasks involved creating orders, handling finance and customer service as well as indirectly supporting the Central Communications Team. As I was in charge of monthly reports and all external communication with our customers, stellar communication skills were a must. My message has to be relayed in a clear and effective way - not only externally with the customers, but also internally. Thus, one has to create a strong, positive interpersonal communication that forms the backbone of all organisational communication (Bowes, 2008; p.15). Hurrell (2016) describes a ‘soft skill’ gap among millennials, where the hiring managers desire the young people to expand their knowledge and communication skills (Business Wire, 2011). Communication skills have always been one of the top skills valued by employers - Choren (2015) believes that developing an ability to effectively deliver communication could have a positive influence on enabling individual’s progress, as well as support others in their development. As my placement progressed, I have realised that communication (or the lack of) directly influences my ability to interact and establish relationships with my direct and indirect colleagues. Smigel and Merritt (1999) state that communication skills are demanded, but very often misunderstood as well as seldom formally developed in the workplace. This lack of formal (and informal) training often results in communication mishaps and directly affects the employees success at work." During my placement I have experienced both sides - a complete lack of communication and acknowledgement from my direct manager as well as a very direct and effective communication from my second line manager. This experience has given me the ability to objectively and critically evaluate my ability to communicate in a workplace as well as understand the academic theory behind it."

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2017/2018 1st evidence - Teaching Materials Just as I started to settle down and got a full handover from my predecessor, I got my first big task to handle - creation of various teaching materials that will be used as promotional materials during university visits, presentations etc. All of these materials had to be very versatile and amendable at moment’s notice. " As I was still feeling unsure how to proceed correctly, I sought help at my marketing manager’s desk. Bowes (2008, p.16) highlights the importance of formal training, especially at the beginning of the placement employees are viewed as ‘raw materials’ - a blank slate that can be moulded into employer’s image. Formal training helps to develop effective communication and work skills, and in my case - my marketing manager’s crash course was the closest I got to formal introduction and explanation ofx’ design, colour scheme and overall graphics. " Thanks to my ‘formal' induction, I had a solid foundation to build on - I have created the promotional materials within the stated deadline. Despite the numerous communications going back-and-forth, I was able to clearly communicate with all the stakeholders (marketing manager, line manager, printing agency and several other teams). This experience made me realise that the limitation to Bowes’ (2008) theory and the importance of formal training being highlighted in many educational materials, does not necessarily mean that employees will be able to progress in their education - companies who offer training courses and do not follow through with their educational aims are hindering employee’s progress. "

2nd evidence - Promo Materials Online design tool started to decline in its Monthly Active Users (MAU) and my team was tasked in creating an online promotional campaign that would help reverse the decline. As this campaign would have several parts such as online promotion, printed flyers distributed at events as well as personal emails, work was distributed amongst the team and I was tasked with creating the promotional email. My work was collaborated with a team in US and as they were 6 hours behind Germany, my work was a bit more complicated. Due to this fact I had to bounce off ideas with the rest of my team and take their feedback into consideration before presenting it to the US team as I wanted to save time and effort. My team was very helpful in several occasions and provided the right learning environment for me to develop further." Argote et al (2000) described this willingness to share information across departments as the building block that facilitates development of interpersonal skills as well as helps employees to grow professionally. I was able to finish all work on time and even took the initiative to create a Holiday e-card and sent it to all of the contacts we had on file. This initiative helped the team to

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2017/2018 establish several lost contacts with university professors world wide. As the team trusted me, our communication was very open and free. On the other hand if the trust would not have been established, low levels of communication would have been present as described by Cooper and Sparrow (2003) - as I have experienced at the beginning of my placement."

3rd evidence - TI.com promotions Towards the end of my placement I have tried to be more proactive and support the team in promotional activities - therefore I have created a proposal for an online giveaway that would solve the ever-so-declining MAU users on the x website. My proposal was met with excitement and I began to work on 3 month project where I created everything from scratch - graphics, banners, texts, landing page, worked with several agencies as well as gave full customer support to all participants. Egan (2005, p.169) states, “Perceived support for individual creativity from leaders or supervisors, or from the organisation in general appears to increase the likelihood of creative outputs”. This has proven to be particularly true in my case as my excitement, creativeness and team spirit have peaked! The project was an amazing success and was met with praise. Several teams have taken my pilot giveaway as the base for their future boosting projects."

4th evidence - Worldwide Meeting The highlight of my whole 14 months as a x was the Worldwide meeting in the mountains. During 3 days all 30 team members from x (including ours) have met and worked on next year’s plans as well as discussed what worked and what didn’t work in the past 12 months. Half a day was reserved to share thoughts and propose a new way how to handle team communication and effectiveness. Eraut (2011) highlights the critical importance of feedback and its role in learning, knowledge retention and confidence building. This has encouraged me to give an honest feedback - team was not working as well as it could have. I have brought up points, such as feelings of alienation within the team and the lack of personal touch, that have often left me feeling unsure whether the team appreciates me and values my work. My honest feedback was met with praise and the team made several changes to overcome this in the future, such as regular team lunches, after work drinks or short table tennis sessions."

Conclusion

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2017/2018 My placement has allowed me to realise the importance of effective interpersonal and workrelated communication. As the company had over five thousand employees, communicating with so many colleagues was initially a bit daunting. But as the time has passed and I had several opportunities to develop and further my skills, my confidence rose. As Bowes (2008) stressed the importance of formal training, I found it particularly true at x - as an intern I was not able to attend all training sessions as those were reserved for full time employees only. With poor turn-up, I would have appreciated if x changed it policies and allowed interns to attend these invaluable seminars. Overall, my year at x has helped me to further perfect my interpersonal, communication and team communication skills. Learning is a lifelong process and knowledge accumulates exponentially, therefore one must continue to learn to be effective (Williams, 2001). "

Bibliography

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2017/2018 Argote, L., Ingram, P., Levine, J. M., & Moreland, R. L. (2000): “Knowledge Transfer in Organizations”, Organisational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 82(1), 1-8. " Bowes, B. (2008). Building Effective Communicators. CMA Management Vol. 81(9), p. 14-16" Business Wire (2011). Reality Has Reshaped Young Professionals’ Career Focus. Business Wire New York." Chang, L. and Birkett, B. (2004). Managing intellectual capital in a professional service firm: exploring the creativity–productivity paradox. Management Accounting Research, 15(1), pp.7-31." Choren, A, 2015. The Importance of Communication in the Workplace.#IEEE Potentials, [Online]. Vol. 34 (3)" Egan, T. (2005). Factors Influencing Individual Creativity in the Workplace: An Examination of Quantitative Empirical Research. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 7(2), pp.160-181." Eraut, M.#(2011). Informal learning in the workplace: evidence on the real value of work‐based learning (WBL),#Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal,#Vol. 25#Issue: 5,#pp.8-12" Eraut, M. (1998). Development of Knowledge and Skills in Employment. University of Sussex Institute of Education Research Report ; 05. Brighton: University of Sussex Institute of Education." Hurrell, S. (2016). Rethinking The Soft Skills Deficit Blame Game: Employers, skills withdrawal and the reporting of soft skills gaps. Human Relations Vol. 69(3), p. 605-628." Silverman, M. (2003). Supporting workplace learning: A background paper for IES Research Network members. The Institute for Employment Studies." Smigel, H. and Merritt, L. (1999). A New Approach to Communication Training in the Workplace. Journal of Vocational Education and Training Vol. 51 (4), p. 629-640." Sparrow, P.R. and Cooper, C.L. (2003). The Labour Relationship. Key Challenges for HR, Butterworth-Heinemann, London"

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