Reflective_Journal

6th Week Reflective Journal The topic discussed today, the 08th of December was, again, “Presentation, Approaching and Assessment.” This week too, we were asked to group into teams of two and make Power Point Presentations to present in front of the whole class. Except this time, we were only given forty minutes to prepare slides and rehearse what we were going to say. We were given around six topics to choose from and our team chose to do a presentation on “Conspiracy theory”. The conspiracy theory we chose to speak about was the 9/11 incident. Having only forty minutes to prepare proved to be quite a challenge since we had to do quite a bit of research on it as neither of us was familiar with what actually happened that day and what this conspiracy theory was. Anyhow after preparing and rehearsing, each team gave their presentations to the class. We were graded on research and content and presentation skills. This week my team mate and I performed better than last week. I was more confident when speaking and our research was well done and to the point, unlike last week, when we went off track. The skill learnt today was, again, presentation skills, team building skills and time management skills. “Presentation is the practice of showing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience or learner.” (Retrieved December 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation) This skill is used in Organizations, for employees to communicate with clients, to attract customers and is important to one and one’s success. This is an important skill for us to possess as it will be very useful in the future in our work life. The skills we focused more on, today, was time management skills and team building skills. “Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities.” (Retrieved December 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_management) Today, we were given less time than last week, to prepare, to see how we would cope. My team mate and I found it quite tough, as we had to read up on the topic/theory, get familiar with it, prepare slides and rehearse what we were to say in just forty minutes. We didn’t think we would be able to achieve all this is such a short time, but we managed to and scored a twenty five out of thirty for our presentation. This was encouraging, since in future time management skills are an important to possess, especially when working in an Organization. Time management in an Organization is vital for productivity. Good time management focuses you on your top priorities, gets better results with fewer resources, and enables you to achieve a better work life balance. The next skill we focused on was, team building skills. “Team building consists of activities intended to encourage teamwork: activities designed to encourage people to work cooperatively.” (Retrieved December 2011 from http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search'q=define+team+building&qpvt=what+is+team+building&FORM=DTPDIA) This proved to be quite a challenge today, as my team mate and I didn’t agree on which conspiracy theory to speak about. He wanted to do the presentation on the Electronic Banking conspiracy theory whereas I wanted to do it on the 9/11 conspiracy theory. Finally, after much discussion, we agreed on doing the presentation on the 9/11 conspiracy theory. Conflict in the workplace is a natural part of life together. When working in teams conflicts can arise. Conflict in the workplace is natural. Most people avoid conflict and see it as a huge negative. However unresolved conflict can result in withdrawal, aggression, name calling and resignations. But conflict, when handled appropriately, can lead to awareness that change is necessary and can be helpful and productive. Like in our case, we were able to understand, resolve and overcome the conflict and proceed with our task. The skills we learned today are vital in the working environment. To manage time, have good presentation skills and work in teams is essential. Reference List • Presentation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation • Time Management - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_management • Team Building - http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search'q=define+team+building&qpvt=what+is+team+building&FORM=DTPDIA