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BUMGT 2621 – Business Communication
End of Semester (Final) Assessment
40%
The cu
ent changes occu
ing in our environment are impacting and changing many
aspects of our lives including how we communicate and interact with people. Business
communication has an important role in assisting people and organisations in these
changing and uncertain times. It is therefore important for leaders and managers to
have a sound understanding of business communication theories and practices to help
guide their communications and actions.
Using the above statement as a backdrop, write a reflective piece on any four of the
following topic areas:
• The expanded model of Communication - (Chapter 1)
• Document design - (Chapter 2)
• Nonve
al communication – (Chapter 8)
• Interpersonal skills – (Chapters 9 and 10)
• Reports, Proposals and academic writing – (Chapters 5 and 7)
• Intercultural communication – (Chapter 15)
• Team communication – Chapter 18)
• Oral communication – (Chapter 11)
• Public communication – (Chapter 17)
• Employment communication – (Chapter 20)
• Organisational communication – (Chapter 16)
• Negotiation skills – (Chapter 13)
• Conflict Management – Chapter 14)
• Social Media – (Chapter 21)
Requirements
• As this assessment replaces the exam, referencing is optional.
• You MUST add a cover page (all student details, course code and title of assessment)
• Word count is XXXXXXXXXXwords per topic. Use size 11 font, 1.15 line spacing and Arial
font.
• This reflection does not require a format (i.e. no need to format per report or essay).
Instead, simply choose your topics (4) and number each.
• Each topic attracts 10%. This assessment totals to 40%.
• Please submit via Turnitin.
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Guidelines
Reflective thinking involves looking back on your thinking process and evaluating it. It is a
powerful aid in learning and it plays a vital role in identifying and solving problems and
unlocking new directions and perspectives. Reflective thinking involves awareness, and in
particular self-awareness. This is one of the very important distinctions between reflective
thinking and other types of thinking you will be required to demonstrate – it is consciously
subjective. Reflective thinking involves the uncovering of the process that takes place as we
engage with new knowledge. It explores directly what you think or feel about a topic and asks
you to explicitly state the factors that underpin your logic or approach towards a topic.
Reflective thinking may include the following:
• Personal observation of experiences, situations, events or information
• Consideration of the ‘processing’ phase, when thinking and learning took place
• There is no right or wrong way to reflect. Only you can respond to your own perspective
and reveal the changes that are occu
ing as you examine past knowledge or
experience, and speculate on the future. Some common factors involved in thinking
eflectively:
❖ Perceptions (thoughts + senses) - these include how something felt and how you
experienced it;
❖ Connections between your new learning and your prior knowledge and experience;
❖ Prior assumptions, opinions and experiences and a consideration of why you
thought this way;
❖ What you have found challenging and inspiring and why;
❖ Speculations, possibilities, solutions, conclusions – and how you reached a point
of understanding;
❖ Alternative interpretations and different perspectives; and
❖ Implications for your future thoughts and actions.
How do I demonstrate reflection in my writing?
Reflective writing involves self-awareness about your prior knowledge and your new learning,
and an ability to explore these while also integrating, analysing and critiquing theory and
practice. From a learning perspective, it can help you to clarify your personal learning
outcomes. This assists you in planning as you modify approaches based on your new
understanding. A common frame for reflective writing incorporates the following questions
(Driscoll, 2000): 1. What happened? (A
ief description). 2. So what? (Why is it important? A
ief interpretation). 3. What if? (How could you have managed it differently? An evaluation).
4. Now what? (How will you address it? A further evaluation). 5. What is next? (What will you
do differently next time? Recommendations).
An example of reflective writing
ICT has presented managers with the chance to increase teamwork within their organisation.
This is in keeping with view that it is part of the manager’s role to facilitate strategic
communication and provide employees with the opportunity to collaborate (Ro
ins et al.
2014; Samson & Daft, XXXXXXXXXXI can relate to these strategies based on my experience of a
group work assignment, which required me to team up with fellow students to analyse and
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complete a set task. The lecturer provided an online wiki space for each group where we could
log our progress and discussions. This practice reflects horizontal communication, which is
indicated by Samson and Daft XXXXXXXXXXto result in intradepartmental problem solving and
coordination in the workplace through effective internal communication. In my view, the online
wiki facilitated communication for all members of our team, regardless of time or location, and
enabled us to efficiently complete the task. However, it is important to also acknowledge other
contributing factors such as personal motivation and the clear clarifying of expectations as
well as the assigning of team roles. Providing professional development to staff in both ICT
and effective group dynamics will be an important aspect of a manager’s role with the
increasing reliance on ICT.
Looked at from a different perspective, the implementation of these improved communication
channels raises some concerns e.g. employee privacy. ICT has been found to provide
managers with the ability to observe their employees’ online and digital activities to ensure
that they are fulfilling their responsibilities (Halpern et al., 2008; Ro
ins et al., XXXXXXXXXXThis
means that managers now have the ability to check which websites employees are visiting; to
examine which programs have been used; and even to read employees’ emails. I believe that
this kind of surveillance could have detrimental impacts on the relationship between
employees and managers. In my experience in my cu
ent workplace, it is important that as a
staff member I feel trusted. If I were aware of strict surveillance of my performance, I would
feel quite stressed and less inclined to respect my manager. These factors are similarly
eflected in studies on this topic indicating negative effects on employee productivity (Halpern
et al., 2008; O’Rourke et al., 2011; Van Gramberg et al., 2014).This is an issue that I had not
considered previously as I was not aware of the ability to monitor my online and digital
activities. While I am careful of what information I publish on my social media profiles, this kind
of organisational observation is an important issue to note in my future workplaces where I
may need to act appropriately and establish boundaries between my personal and
professional online and digital activities. In considering how this might impact me as a future
manager, I believe that I would need to establish transparent and explicit guidelines for all
parties, so that trust could be established and maintained between the manager and
employees. A
oader social debate about the rights of individuals to privacy in the workplace
may also be called for.
Commentary on the writing
• What? Note how in both paragraphs, the writer establishes a clear topic sentence and
links the topic to personal experience.
• So what? In each paragraph, the writer situates the topic within the context of the
literature and then provides relevant professional examples of why this topic is
important and worthy of investigation.
• What if? In each paragraph, the writer speculates on what might happen if this situation
were different. For example, in paragraph 1 the writer thinks about what other factors
might influence teamwork online. In paragraph 2 the writer speculates on how his or
her behaviour might change as a result of this new information.
• Now what and what is next? The writer evaluates his or her own learning and considers
what behaviour may change. The writer also considers how this knowledge or practice
may change the way managers work in the future, i.e. what might need to happen as
a result of this new information?
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Important to consider
• Expression. The writer uses both passive forms (e.g. these factors are reflected; a
oader social debate may be called for) as well as active voice in the first person (I
can relate; I believe that).
• Speculation. Notice how the writer hypothesises about what might have happened or
what might happen in the future by using could, would, may, might and will forms.
• Tone. Notice how the writing is still professional in tone, even though the personal (I)
is used. Some final tips for reflective thinking and writing
• Incorporate and value thinking time. Focus on particular events, activities, and
experiences.
• Think deeply. Take special note of your feelings and perceptions.
• Phrase negative experiences in terms of what you have learnt and how you will act
next time. Situate comments within a learning context.
Source: Adapted from Monash QManual
BUMGT 2621 Business Communication
End of Semester (Final) Assessment – Reflective Piece – 40%
Marking Guide – the information below should be read in conjunction with the main
Assessment document which has additional and detailed information on how to approach
writing a Reflective assessment.
For each of the four questions:
• Degree of evidence of reflection on how learning has or will be transformed into action.
Demonstration of uncovering the process that took place as student engaged with new
knowledge. For example, exploration and explanation of factors that underpinned
logic or approach to each of the four chosen topics. For example, thoughts and
feelings, connections between new learning and prior knowledge and experience, prior
assumptions, what was challenging and or inspiring, speculations, possibilities,
solutions, conclusions, alternative interpretation and different perspective and
implications for future thoughts and actions.
• Use of relevant theories, concepts or models.
• Quantity of reflection as per required word count guidelines XXXXXXXXXXwords per
answer).
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PowerPoint Presentation
Social Media
Chapter 21
Content adapted from Eunson,