D - Describe/Define the topic you have chosen and the event, situation or circumstance to which it applies. E - Explain the chosen topic in relation to theories learned in class. Include new insights learned. E - Evaluate the value of what you have learned and how it relates to the event, situation or circumstance. P - Plan how this information will be useful to you. In what ways might your learning experience serve you in the future? Rubric Grading Criteria: Individual Reflective Journal (2,000 words) (25%) Criteria Unsatisfactory 0-49% Pass 50 – 64% Credit 65 – 74% Distinction 75 – 84% High distinction 85 – 100% Grade Background to reflective Journal Judge the event, circumstance or situation and explicitly state its relevance SLO1/ CLO S2; S3 Weight: 10% Produced work which fails to demonstrate a rigorous understanding of knowledge pertaining to writing a reflective journal fundamentals At a minimum identifies and describes reflective journal fundamentals and the relationship linkages inherent in the journal Demonstrates a basic ability to develop and organise a reflective journal in a logical manner underpinned by basic analysis with outcomes supported by some evidence based analysis Exhibits a sound ability to develop and organise content in a logical and concise manner based around critical analysis that is evidentially based Demonstrates a high level of reflective journal fundamentals in a critical and accurate manner that demonstrates advanced systems thinking Topic & associated theories Determine an appropriate concepts, theories, topics and associated insights SLO2/CLO S2; S3 Weight: 30% Demonstrates a lack of critical thinking around the issues and fails to adequately address relevant time based concepts Demonstrates basic use of relevant analysis to understand historical and current business issues applicable to the use of reflective journals Applies critical thinking to identify reflective journal fundamentals that are evidence based Establishes a sound analytical approach to critical thinking with a diagnosis based on current concepts, theories and topics Demonstrates a solid analysis/evaluation of the business/personal issues being scrutinised and dissected via a reflective journal Evaluate situation & circumstances Select appropriate theory and circumstance to evaluate your situation SLO S1; S4; S5 Weight: 25% Produced work which fails to demonstrate understanding and knowledge pertaining to appropriate theory and circumstances At a minimum identifies and describes appropriate theory and circumstances applicable to individual based reflective journals Demonstrates a basic ability to develop and organise content in a logical manner underpinned by basic analysis, appropriate theory and circumstances applicable to reflective journals As a minimum describes the linkages between individual situations and current reflective journal theories Exhibits a solid systems analysis/evaluation of individual situations and current reflective journal theories Recommendations arising Appraise learning experience outcomes applicable to the broader professional community CLO S2; S3 Weight: 15% Presented work that demonstrates a lack of fundamental knowledge arising from the journal applicable to the broader community At a minimum identifies and describes a low level of journal knowledge & understanding applicable to the broader community Presented work that demonstrates a heightened learning experience that can be set within the broader professional area Concise assessment that demonstrates enhanced reflective journal learning outcomes that integrates within the broader professional area Presented work is expressed coherently and concisely around the intersection a reflective journal model of self-awareness and the professional community Written Presentation & Style Convey information clearly and fluently, in high quality written form appropriate for target audiences CLO S2; S3/ CLO K1; S2 Weight: 20% Presented work that demonstrates a lack of literacy and rudimentary writing skills. Does not convey specific meaning Uses a basic understanding of language and presentation techniques that conveys ideas with a number of discrepancies pertaining to grammar and/or referencing Incorporates appropriate language that generally conveys meaning to readers. Writing may include some errors in grammar and/or referencing Employs appropriate language and accepted principles of English and APA citation. Communicates and presents clearly and concisely with minimal errors Presented work is expressed coherently and concisely with zero English and/or referencing errors Total /100% Reflective Journal SELF-DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TEAM WORK AND SOCIAL INTERACTIONS Mohammed SarwanBasha ID: 13249898 Lecturer Dr.Helan R. Gamage LB5205: People in Organizations 29 December 2015 SELF-DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TEAM WORK AND SOCIAL INTERACTIONS Working with teams has not always been easy for me and I always prefer to do the work individually by my self no matter how much time it can take. Even in my past experience, I have always allocated work to my team individually and never made them work as team. I guess I never understood how teams could function and its importance until now. A team-based workforce increases both productivity and employee satisfaction (Campion & Higgs, 1995). Working in a team and going through the entire process of teamwork has taught me how to be an effective team player and how teams should function. It has also improved my communication and interpersonal skills and being a team leader has added a few more lessons to that. I always concentrated on the work that should be done in a team and implemented the idea that teams should only meet to complete the work and keep our relationship in a team very professional. At every team meeting, I used to discuss only about the work to be done in that meeting and then worked on it. At the end, we also used to discuss what preparation should be done before the next meeting and what the discussion of the next meeting would be. I disliked any personal talk by other team members and felt that they were wasting time during a meeting. I did not share any of my personal thoughts or issues with my team members either. But slowly I realized that as they spoke to me about personal life, I started to feel closer and friendly with my team. Interactions involve interpersonal processes surrounding social support among members, sharing of work, and cooperation (Campion et al., 1996). Since I felt that they were now my friends, I too started sharing my personal information and feelings with them and made good friends. Due the sense of belonging to a group, I then started sharing more information about our work and boosted my confidence to interact with the team. I realized that I was very conscious of my words and actions and what people always thought about me. Team member social interaction builds a positive team climate since it improves problem solving skills and interpersonal relations on the team (Campion et al., 1993). They also demonstrated that member social interaction was related to effectiveness. Due to these interactions I became more open to social interactions even to people outside the team which improved my interpersonal relations. As a manager, I always expected people to work responsibly and believed that their behavior and personal issues were a personal problem and people should deal with them on their own. My attitude at work was that personal issues and should be dealt with in our own time. I began to notice how the other managers were supportive of their teams by discussing their personal matters. I never supported this practice as I thought work and personal life should be separated and should not be mixed. I said that people should not bring their personal issues to work and bother their boss or colleagues about it. But then I began to notice how the other teams were always happy and worked so efficiently and I was never able to get such output from my team and never saw my team members happy. But now I understand the reason behind such productivity. Bartlett (2000) says that self-disclosure increases productivity and it also makes people work in teams automatically, and also when an employer self discloses to his employees, he can get more output and credibility from the employees. With this, I understood the importance of self-disclosure between team members and with managers in a team, and should support people by discussing their personal issues to motivate them as a part of total person approach. Eventually, I began to notice how these interactions of self-disclosure between me and my team helped to build trust in my team in both directions. The more the team learnt about me and my personality, they began to trust me and responded more efficiently to the tasks appointed and the more efficiently they worked, the more I trusted them to assign the tasks and completing them. I did not feel the need to monitor them so closely and pressurize to complete the work. I have understood how these concepts are related and how self-disclosure can lead to building trust in a team, and how both factors can improve the productivity and efficiency of the team. Trust has also made the team more responsible individually and made me understand the importance and impact of trust on people around us. Another poor quality of my management was that I expected my team to work the entire time without any personal discussion during work. I maintained a serious atmosphere thinking it was professional. But the outcome was that the team members got tired very quickly and did not have any motivation to work. But I continued to pressurize them to do their work without wasting time. What I did not realize is that people worked slower and slower and more time was being wasted. One team member opened up to me as a whistle blower and informed me that the team is always under pressure to work and they disliked to work under such a pressure. They asked for regular breaks but they promised to complete the work in the same amount of time. Reece (2014) states that it is possible to redesign existing jobs so they will have characteristics or outcomes that are intrinsically satisfying to employees. I understood that the team did not have motivation to work and I agreed as an experimental decision to add a few tea breaks. During these breaks I used to have tea with my team and have short discussions hoping to get more information about how the team members actually felt about me and the work. Instead we talked about our personal lives or even cracked jokes and laughed. In just a few days, I was astounded to see the outcomes. The team was motivated to work and output was much higher than before. These breaks and interactions motived me as well and increased my efficiency. The decision I made and the performance of the team increased my self-esteem which made me productive as well. Implementing McGregor’s theory, I should change from a Theory X manager to a Theory Y manager. Individual recognition in a team can add motivation to improve productivity and efficiency. Apart from social interaction with the team, I should give recognition to each of the team members on the work they have completed by discussing the completed tasks in the team meetings which can also increase the self-esteem of each team member. Heartfield and Gibson (2005) have researched and reported that respect and recognition relate to higher level of job satisfaction and lower rates of job mobility, making them a useful team member. During the daily team meetings, I discussed how much work each member had completed the tasks and appreciated them in front of entire team. The team member who performed the best would get a ‘pat on the back’ on that day. So the team members worked harder to perform the best and get a pat on their back. This way, the team members were motivated through recognition. As mentioned earlier, I did not have the understanding to work in a team earlier and always individualized the work in my team. I also never thought about understanding the strengths of each individual and collectively using these talents or skills to do better work as a team. I usually did most of the new work on my own and just presented it to the team on how the work is done. Some small reaming works were distributed to the team members to work individually. I guess I underestimated the skills and talents of my team. Teams consistently fail to use their members’ expertise to the fullest, resulting in lower-quality decisions and outcomes (Bunderson, 2003; Baumann and Bonner, 2004; Hackman, 2011). Once a team member took my work and presented it to me the next day by making some changes. I was surprised to see her skills and creativity in that area as I never knew she had these skills. This made me realize that each member may have other skills that I may not be aware of. These skills can contribute to the team work and improve the quality of the work on the whole. I then gave appreciation and recognition to that team member and welcomed ideas from all other members of the team as an integral part of teamwork. Working in a diverse and multi-cultural team added more resistance to my communication with my team members. Previous research has suggested that cultural differences can disturb the communication process (Brett and Okumura, 1998, Gelfand and McCusker, 2002 and Von Glinow et al., 2004). It increased my social consciousness, but we began communicating and working together. Diversity can be associated with a range of positive outcomes, including increased creativity, productivity, and adaptability (Mannix and Neale, 2005, Stahl et al., 2010 and Williams and O’Reilly, 1998). The outcome of my team members work was more than my expectations and I was happy to have such a skilled team. The effects of cultural diversity may be stronger than other sources which can be positive or negative. (Stahl, 2010). I then realized that our diversity was our strength and not a weakness. Communication hindrance was only my perception to the diversity which should not affect my performance in the team. Working in teams and learning the importance of human relations in a team and in an organization has made me a better manager improving my interpersonal skills and social skills. I have learned to interact with people and manage teams better. Not just that, I have learned more about myself that I was not aware of earlier i.e. self-realization through teams which increased my self-awareness to make me realize what I do I right or wrong. The principles and concepts of human relations have helped me to correct the wrong practices by applying the theories in my real life. The positive changes and outcomes that I have seen myself has made me a better person and increased my self-respect, thereby increasing my self-esteem. I believe that I am now more capable that before with higher self-efficacy and can manage my personal and social behavior better in the future by applying all the concepts learnt. Through my increased self-esteem, I have also learnt to respect others and show empathy.With increased motivation and self-efficacy, people are more persistent in the face of obstacles, and therefore tend to be more successful (Purzer, 2011). Hence, I have realized my strengths and weaknesses through teamwork and interactions. I keep relations very professional but I have understood the social importance in a team and that soft skills are important in a team to make effective use of our technical skills. I do not interact with a team readily which is a hindrance to ideas and team efficiency and I need to further improve on my social-awareness to be a better manager and team leader in the future.   References Bartlett, C. (2000). Supervisory communication and subordinate job satisfaction, Public Library Quarterly, 18(1), 9-30, DOI: 10.1300/J118v18n01_03 Baumann, M. R., and B. L. Bonner 2004 ‘‘The effects of variability and expectations on utilization of member expertise and group performance.’’ Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 93: 89–101. Brett, J. M., & Okumura, T. (1998). Inter- and intracultural negotiation: U.S. and japanese negotiators. The Academy of Management Journal, 41(5), 495-510. Bunderson, J. 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