journal hw
Elements of the Journal Entry (Management 417)
1. Concrete Experience (CE)
In this part of the journal entry, briefly describe what happened in the experience – a simple description of events is not sufficient! The feelings you experienced as well as your thoughts/perceptions during the experience are relevant. Think about this section as possessing both an objective and subjective component:
Objective component: facts of the experience, like a newspaper account – with no attempt to analyze the content.
Subjective component: “here and now” personal experience of the event. This is composed of feelings, perceptions and thoughts.
It might help to replay the experience in your mind. Then, write a report of what you saw, heard, felt, thought, and what you heard and saw others doing. Keep feelings and thoughts confined to those felt/thought during the experience, anything after the experience is part of your retrospection, and should be included in the reflective observation section. Finally, avoid presenting the detailed mechanics of the experience.
2. Reflective Observation (RO)
Ask yourself: what did I observe in the experience and what possible meanings could these observations have. Your task here is to gather as many observations as possible by observing the experience from different points of view.
Your main skill to work on is perspective taking or “re-framing.” Look at the experience from and describe it from different perspectives. How did other participants view the situation and what did it mean to them? What would a neutral, or objective, observer have seen and heard?
Try to figure out why people, you in particular, behaved as they did. Look beneath the surface to try to explain why the people involved (yourself included) acted the way that they did. Moreover, what can you learn about yourself, looking back at the experience?
3. Abstract Conceptualization (AC)
In this section, you must relate assigned readings and lectures to what you experienced. Through this process, you will demonstrate your ability to understand conceptually abstract material through your experiences. This will help you refine your model of people and organizations. Assigned readings will have varying degrees of helpfulness to your experience – but it is important that you make several references and not limit your conceptualizing to just one source. Learning ACROSS the course modules is important.
Try to use at least two concepts or theories from course readings. Provide sources where appropriate (for example, Kolb et al., p27; Robbins and Judge, p125. This is also the place to insert your own personally developed theories and/or models if they assist you in making sense of the experience.
Overall –identify several specific concepts or theories that relate to your experience. First, briefly define the concept or theory as you would for someone who was not familiar with it. Next apply the concept thoroughly to your experience. Linking the theory or concept to your experience should include specific details of how the theory relates to and provides insight into your experience. Does the experience support or refute the theory? Most importantly, avoid merely providing a data dump of what you have read – you should discuss in some detail how you see concepts and theories relating to your experience.
4. Active Experimentation (AE)
This section should summarize the practical lessons you have learned and the action steps you will take to make you more effective in the future. You should consider the following question: How can I test out the concepts I developed in the preceding phase (AC)?
Present your “lessons learned” in the form of rules of thumb or action resolutions. You should elaborate in detail how you see your action ideas being carried out.
Be specific and thorough
Don’t just repeat tips from the book
Include at least one action resolution that is built from the new knowledge that you gained about yourself because of writing this journal entry.
For example, if you were to relive your experience, what would you do differently?
Based on the insight you’ve gained about yourself and others, how would you handle a similar situation in the future? Try to describe a future experience where you might be able to implement your ideas. Then elaborate on that experience as a way of demonstrating how your actions will be carried out.
Examples:
CE example.
We all sat at the table together. Not a sound came from any of us. Finally, after what felt like an hour to me, I simply had to say something. “Why are all of you taking this course?” I asked. One person, a small, male international student, said “I needed this course to complete my BS in Finance.” Others laughed. Another person, a nicely-dressed woman, said, “I’d like to get an easy ‘A’”. I thought to myself: What a bummer! I don’t want to be in a group with people who didn’t want to take the subject matter seriously. When the meeting ended, my perceptions of the group had somehow changed. Maybe this was a good group to be in after all. Some of the members had similar interests to mine, and most of them were nice people that I could see getting along with. I felt somehow hopeful that this quarter wouldn’t be so bad after all.
RO Example:
I found it interesting to note the role reversal of the instructor and the class between the first and second attempts. During the first run, it was the class that appeared apprehensive. We lacked confidence and understanding, and were confused by the objective. Our instructor, on the other hand, was confident that she was doing a good job. Since she couldn’t view our reaction, she had no feedback or pressure to change her behavior. On the second run, however, there was an amazing change. Since the instructor was looking at us, she became more human and approachable. We had the freedom to question her instructions in order to better understand the picture. As a class, we were able to learn. However, the teacher’s confidence went down. She appeared uncomfortable at being put on the spot, frustrated at not getting her point across and challenged by her limitation.
AC Example:
There are several organizational behavior concepts that helped me to understand this experience. One is the Thomas-Kilman story of conflict (Kolb, p284-285), which is based upon two axes, either the concern for one’s own interests or the concern for the interests of the other party. The five styles reflect a low or high position on these two axes, and are labeled competition, compromise, avoidance, accommodation, and collaboration. In the incident I described, my coach began with a collaborative style, high concern for both his own interests, and the interests of the other party. He tried to work out a solution that would satisfy both of us, but I neither saw, nor heard, his point of view. I just wanted to get my way and practice in the same way I had on my previous team. I can see now that the conflict style I used was the competitive style, high concern for my own interests and low concern for the interests of the other party. Looking back, this is the style I have used most often through my life, and I usually got away with it because I was such a good athlete. However, my experience with the coach supports Kolb’s description of the losses that may result from using this style. I lost everything when I was kicked off the team and I certainly alienated the coach and the other players and discouraged them from wanting to work with me.
AE Example
If I were in a situation like this again, I would first try to do a better job of managing myself. I would remember that it takes two sides to make a conflict and I need to be as objective as possible and not go along with the group in criticizing “them” so that I feel more a part of the group. Second, had I made the effort, I might have been able to establish at least one positive relationship with someone in graphics. I should have asked my positive colleague how he managed to develop such a good relationship with them. I suspect his advice would have been to spend more time with them, treat them with greater respect, refrain from blaming them when things go wrong, and be more empathetic. Third, I would talk to my manager or supervisor about the problem. By making my feelings known and telling him or her that I wanted to do my part in conflict management maybe he or she would be more willing to take action. if not, at least I tried. At the bottom line, my negative actions only made my job more difficult. I now realize that was not a very smart or effective way to conduct myself. The positive thing about having negative experiences is that hopefully I learn from them. I do not have control over other people but if I act appropriately, I will have a much better chance of getting the cooperation that I desire. This experience taught me about the dangers of going along with the group. I know that the next time I am in this situation, I will behave differently.
