7114IBA Assignment 3: Reflective Essay

Weight: 30%

Word Counts: 1500 words (+-10)

Task Description

For this assignment, you are asked to reflect on your personal experiences and your experience of interaction with others during this course.  You also need to apply theoretical material introduced in the lectures to assist this analysis and plan for more effective future interactions. The following hints guide you to write your reflective essay.

Hint 1: It might be useful for you to reflect and make notes in a journal on your own and others' interactions to serve as source notes in drafting your assignment. This will help you capture and record communication experiences for your essay (Ashley et al., 2001).

Hint 2: You should explain the concepts covered in lecture modules and select and demonstrate an understanding of each using specific examples from your meetings and interactions with the other students in your group. You should also critically evaluate the usefulness of each model, concept, and theory in terms of helping you analyse leadership. It is important to note that you should use at least six refereed journal articles to complete a sufficient analysis. Some useful models and concepts you might like to consider include the values frameworks, emotions frameworks, communication, leadership styles, etc. (Ashley et al., 2001).

Hint 3: In thinking about a theory, model, or concept, you may find that it throws new light on your understanding of certain aspects of leadership whilst leaving other aspects unexplained. Write about these points in your evaluation (Ashley et al., 2001).

A key aspect of your journaling is to find connections and meaning in the events and learnings you have experienced throughout the course. As a minimum, cover the topic areas identified above but, those going for the extra marks or, more importantly, more profound meaning and value should go beyond those topics in reflection. Above all, do not present a personal diary that recounts the chronological order of events without commentary on the meaning of those events and their effect on you. A good essay will have a central theme/argument that will be followed through the essay.

Structure of the reflective Essay

1. Introduction

You will need to write an introductory paragraph that states your topic, what the essay is about.  You also need to discuss what theories or concepts you are going to use and whether your experiences were supported in the literature (argument). Give an outline of what will be presented in the essay (Ashley et al., 2001).

2. Personal reflection (part one)

Part 1 requires you to reflect on and evaluate your learnings from the course. You might like to talk about positive and negative experiences in class, comment on your thoughts and feelings in relation to these experiences and discuss things you want to change next time. As a rough guideline, each paragraph should contain an 'I' statement (a reflection). Again, reflections should be linked to the literature.   Remember you are reflecting on your own experiences and behaviours and the impact this has on your leadership and followership going forward.  It is important that you link each reflection in Part 1 to theory (Ashley et al., 2001).

3. Reflections linked to future action (part two)

Part 2 is your reflection on your behaviour in the future.  This may involve a self-development plan that suggests how your learnings can be applied or improved in the future.  Again, link your observations to theory (Ashley et al., 2001)

4. Technical issues

The essay is expected to be in academic style with appropriate referencing and a reference list.  This criterion will also assess grammar and general writing style.  Simple words and simple statements will be scored better than difficult to understand words and complex language (Ashley et al., 2001).

Important Notes:

• In reflective essays, it is appropriate to use' I', 'my', 'our', 'he', 'she' etc., when talking about 'first-person' experiences. However, use 'third-person' expressions when referring to theory (Ashley et al., 2001).
• Correct APA referencing for citations and reference list is expected (Ashley et al., 2001).

In Summary

The assignment must be submitted On-Line through the relevant SafeAssign link on the course Blackboard site. The marking rubrics for the report are provided separately and will be used to mark this assessment. An example of a suitable format can be found in the course assessment folder.