REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

(Human Resource Management)

For Assignment or Dissertation Help, Please

Contact:
Muhammad Sajid Saeed
+44 141 4045137
Email:
todrsaeed@gmail.com
Skype ID: tosajidsaeed

Table of Contents
1. Introduction........................................................................................2
2. EBL and Reflective practices...............................................................2
3. Theories of reflective learning............................................................3
4. Critical discussion on group processes...............................................4
4.1 Group based discussion.................................................................4
Stage 1: Forming (The initial meeting).............................................4
Stage 2: Storming (The work begins)...............................................5
Stage 3: Storming (All went smoothly).............................................6
Stage 4: Performing (Significant progress made).............................6
Stage 5: Adjourning (Time to wrap up).............................................6
4.2 Reflection on Presentation.............................................................6
5. Conclusion..........................................................................................7
References..............................................................................................8

1. Introduction
This reflective journal contains different reflective theories in the
context of education sector which help the students and other
professionals to reflect upon the events they came across. The purpose of
this reflective journal is threefold. First to explain Enquiry-based Learning
(EBL) and reflective practices in the light of reflective models and theories,
and second to critically discuss group processes which involves the
discussion how well our group performed and how effective the group
presentation was. This second objective is fulfilled under the light of
group-related theories such as Tuckman theory and Belbin theory. The
third aspect of this journal is to reflect upon presentation topic by recalling
how the topic was and how I learned through this topic. Finally, the journal
is concluded at the end with main points and reflecting upon what did I
learn throughout the whole process and how it will have an effect on my
future activities.

2. EBL and Reflective practices

Enquiry-based Learning (EBL) begins with specific questions, issues or
situations instead of merely demonstrating existing facts and figures or
depicting a pathway to knowledge. EBL process is normally facilitated by a
facilitator. Certain enquiries categorise various problems to build up
knowledge and provide solutions to those problems. This means that EBL
comprises of issue-based learning, and commonly used for exploring
problems and issues of small scale projects.
EBL emphasises on the idea of constructivism learning where
knowledge is based on process and personal experience, particularly
experience related to social activities. Following this principle, best
knowledge can be gained from to group activities (Price, 2003). The
growth and results are normally analysed on the basis of how well group
members performed and also how quick they build up knowledge and
skills (Alvarado and Herr, 2003). EBL in learning and teaching context
includes various approaches such as research projects, group and
individual projects, case studies, field works, and survey investigations.
Some particular learning procedures which people employ during EBL
include: generating questions of their own, getting support and evidence
to address questions, collecting evidences through various enquiries,
providing justifications and explanations and developing arguments,
linking the arguments and explanation with knowledge gathered through
EBL approaches i.e. survey, case studies, research etc. (Bell et al. 2010)
Reflective practice in the exact words of Schn (1983) is the capacity
to reflect on action so as to engage in a process of continuous learning
(Capel and Breckon, 2013, p. 240). Similarly, Bolton (2010) defined
reflective practice as paying critical attention to the practical values and

theories which inform everyday actions, by examining practice reflectively

and reflexively. This leads to developmental insight (p. 19).
Reflective practice is a salient tool from the perspective of professional
and practical learning where people learn from their personal as well as
professional experiences, instead of learning from formal teaching and
development where knowledge is transferred from one source (teachers)
to other (students). Moreover, it also helps students to show how to link
theory and practice within the context of work (McBrien, 2007).

3. Theories of reflective learning

The idea of reflective practice revolves around the concept of lifetime
learning where a practitioner evaluates his past experience and learn from
it. However it is inherent to mention that different incidents have different
impacts on ones life and therefore learning based on those events also
varies to great extent. When passing through any incident, which is
reflecting-in-action, it can be very hard to attach ideas, sentiments, and
thinking with the sequence of that incident. However, while reconsidering
or rethinking about that incident, one should be able to classify ideas and
sentiments associated with it. Also, it is quite possible to relate proposed
idea with that incident (Paterson and Chapman, 2013). The practitioners
use reflective practice to endorse sovereign individuals who are constantly
engaged in the reflection of incidents they came across. A range of
theories and models are discussed in this report which can help
professionals to reflect upon their past experiences.
Schn theorys foundation was the works of John Dewey in 1970s from
where he derived the ideas of reflection-on-action and reflection-inaction. These notions were proposed to reflect upon tricky situations and
framing the problems by giving preference to the practical knowledge
over theoretical knowledge (Shapiro, 2010). The two important aspects of
Schns theory is the base of his work where reflection-in-action refers to
practitioners capability to think on his feet and if he is not able to do it
then it is referred as felt-knowing. This means that in case of any tricky
situation during personal or professional life of the practitioner, he tries to
directly attach it with his past emotions, feelings and experiences to
attend current situation carefully. In contrast to reflection-in-action,
reflection-on-action concept comes after the experience when practitioner
recalls his actions and reactions during the precedent event and
investigates the reasons and impacts of those actions (Schn, 1983). This
is normally performed through a journal of reflection. Schns theory
achieved great success but few theorists criticised it as well. For example,
Boud and Walker (1998) argued that Schns work neglects some crucial
characteristics of reflection and thus it is lack of precision and clarity.
According to Greenwood (1993), his Schns theory downplays the
significance of reflection-before-action. Moon (1999) also targets his work
by arguing that the notion of reflection-in-action not achievable all the
times.

Kolbs theory has its roots in the works of Piaget (1970) who referred
learning as a dynamic process consisting of consecutive phases of
adopting reality and facts from the events happening around the learner.
Kolbs reflective cycle (Appendix I) gives the idea of experiential learning
which means converting information into knowledge. This occurs after an
event and involves the practitioner to reflect upon the incident and
knowledge he gained from that. The experience gained from the event
enables the practitioner to develop basic understanding of concepts came
across during the event from which he learned something. In this way, the
knowledge which is acquired is always applied and reapplied on the
practitioners past experience (Kolb, 1984). Beard and Wilson (2006)
argued that Kolbs model is invalid in most of the situations because of
lack of attention towards cultural differences and experiences. In addition,
it also creates gap between sequence of stages and reality. It is also
argued by the authors that Kolbs model is not fit for empirical studies due
to lack of depth on complexity between knowledge and learning
processes.
Gibbs (1988) takes into account the experiential learning cycle of Kolb
as an input for his model. He talks about the utilisation of structured
debriefing to aid reflective learning. He presented and simplified reflection
into six distinct phases in a structured way which is known as either
Gibbs reflective cycle. His model is consisting of six stages such as
description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusions, action plan
(Appendix I). Jasper (2003) argued that Gibbs reflective cycle does not
consider the difference between teaching practices and learners needs
and expectations. Further, the Gibbs model is more relevant to
educational context instead of practical means.
Johns (1995) model of reflection is influenced by the idea of Carper
(1978) and explores the answers of five cue questions by breaking down
the experience of the practitioner and reflects on the procedures and
outcome in the form of learning and knowledge. It enables the practitioner
with a guideline to achieve greater understanding of event occurred in the
past. However, Johns idea is different from other theorists in terms of
sharing experience with colleagues or counselor to learn at faster rate
instead of reflecting on events alone (Grech, 2004). Johns underlined the
significance of the capability of the practitioner to identify, analyse, and
use knowledge which is gained. In order to achieve this, reflection takes
place by looking in to the situation and attaching emotions and thoughts
with it and looking out the event experienced (Appendix I). Johns model
is all-inclusive which enables the reflector to reflect upon various
important elements of an event or situation (Johns, 1995).
The roots of Rolfes (2001) reflective model are in Driscoll (1994) model
of reflection. This is the simplest model which gives the opportunity to
practitioner to answer 3 simple questions such as What, So what and Now
what (Appendix I). By analysing the situation through this model, the
situation is described in an investigative way to construct knowledge
which is learned by experiencing the situation. Following this model, first

the practitioner reflects on the past event to describe it and then develops
knowledge and personal hypothesis about the event to learn from it.
Finally, the practitioner reflects on future action and thinks about
improvement in upcoming event. According to Rolfe et al. (2001), the final
stage is critical and most important as it may greatly contribute to the
reflective practice.

4. Critical discussion on group processes

4.1 Group based discussion
Bruce Tuckmans 5 stages model was considered to achieve the
objectives of the workshop by passing through an effective group process.
A critical discussion on group processes is done in this section considering
the combination of Rolfes (2001) and Gibbs (1988) models of reflection
(Appendix I).
Stage 1: Forming (The initial meeting)
The first day we all six team members met with each other face-to-face
in the University with the following agenda:

To
To
To
To
To
To

personally introduce with each other

build team exercises
discuss initial requirements to achieve workshop objectives
discuss and assignment team roles using Belbin team role theory
discuss team rules and standards for working with each other
discuss ways of communication

The team members were eager to meet each other because we all
were from the same country and communication was not a problem for us.
However, we have not worked before as a team so it was important for us
to bring value to this workshop. Exercising team formation was a different
experience for everyone and gone well with the contribution of each team
member. Some useful discussion was made on assigning roles and
responsibilities to each team member and for this Belbin team role theory
(Belbin, 2012) was employed to clearly define roles to each individual.
Actually, not all Belbin team roles were covered. The roles of coordinator,
shaper, team worker, monitor evaluator, implementer and finisher were
covered. Although, it was a small project and this is the reason that no
specialist and resource investigator was essentially required for it and
thus these roles were not considered. In fact, no one formally leading the
team and thus, I took this responsibility to perform the roles of shaper,
coordinator and team worker as the same time. As a shaper it was my
responsibility to thrive on pressure and drive and encourage each team
member to overcome obstacles. As a coordinator I continuously remained
in touch with the team and distributed tasks to each member with specific
deadline. Finally, as a team worker I was also responsible to complete my
own task.

In fact, I found it hard to perform three roles at the same time and to
some extent I was little under pressure as well. But I was compatible with
each team member because of same country of origin and culture which
help me to communicate well with them in order to take work from them.
The first meeting with team gone well and we achieve the agenda of the
meeting. I found team members discussing their personal lives with each
other such as family, hobbies etc. This was the sign of compatibility
among team members.
Stage 2: Storming (The work begins)
The team started work on their assigned jobs and at the same time
they were interacting with each other virtually through Skype and
Facebook. Also, we met physically in case of any conflict or problem
occurred. For example for meeting physically the availability of all team
members was essential and the timing of two members was mismatched
due to class schedules and personal matters. This issue was resolved by
arranging meetings during weekends.
The workshop topic was Evidence-based Human Resource
Management and I worked on benefits of it and decision making aspect of
evidence-based HRM. I found this topic really interesting and to some
extent difficult as well because of different kinds of decisions and limited
information availability. In addition, some misconceptions or myths
regarding the topic made the scope of the topic limited. For example, the
word evidence usually means quantitative scientific evidence
(Armstrong et al. 2010). But HRM topic is rather qualitative which tells the
reality about things in qualitative way through interviews, case studies,
and surveys. The survey aspect can be quantitative but it is just to
support qualitative reasoning. In order to understand the topic to develop
insightful understanding I read a range of articles and books related to the
subject. I learned that decisions in evidence-based HRM are based on four
elements such as stakeholders, organisational actors, practitioner
experience & judgement, and evaluated external evidence (Trinder, 2008).
Stage 3: Storming (All went smoothly)
The team was now working smoothly over few weeks. The teamwork
sense was evident from actions of the members. Although, some minor
disputes arose among the team but overall they support each other by
sharing information, making decision as a team, solving problems and
ensuring that the rules made in forming stage are followed. Further, the
team members were also assisting each other to acquire new knowledge
and develop skills. For instance, a responsibility of transforming the
material into presentation slides was assigned to a group member who
has expertise in MS Power Point and other group members learned how to
use this software effectively. This learning and experience will definitely
help them in next presentations. All the team members were compatible
with each other like friends and enjoyed the company of each other.
Stage 4: Performing (Significant progress made)

The team was now performing well. They were supporting each other
and relying on each other in terms of workshop related decisions. They
were highly motivated and brainstormed to achieve ultimate aim. A minor
conflict regarding the presentation material occurred which was handled
effectively by responsible team member without depending on other team
members. This demonstrates the leadership skill developed by each group
member. As a shaper and monitor/evaluator, I checked the work of all
members and praise them for their hard work and progress throughout
the group process. The group celebrated the work accomplished on time
and the presentation was ready for the workshop. Milestones were met
and even some group members were ahead of schedule. The team was
pleased about their progress.
Stage 5: Adjourning (Time to wrap up)
The workshop was completed successfully and the team work was
ended. Each member delivered his task on time and presented well during
the presentation. However, some minor mistakes were ignored.

4.2 Reflection on Presentation

This section also follows the combination of Rolfe and Gibbs reflective
theories in describing how effective the group presentation was; what
went well; and what did not go well; and what I will do differently next
time.
On the presentation day, all team members wore same t-shirt to show
unity and teamwork. The presentation session was quite well despite of
some nervousness from few members including me. Also, during the
presentation most of our group members relied on hand written paper and
therefore, their attention was divided between the slide material and
written notes.
I have done presentation before and therefore I relied on my past
experience and presentation skills. I spent enormous time in preparing my
part in the way I have attended various workshops and presentations. The
presentation material and slides were well organised and it was a
teamwork. This showed our teams commitment and planning for the
workshop. However, during the question answer session, I became
nervous and sweat little bit when teacher asked a question regarding my
topic and I was unable to answer that question. I was trying to answer that
question but my voice became wobble and I got confused when I noticed
that teacher is not understanding what I am trying to say. In addition the
pressure of audience also made me confound. I felt quite upset that the
group will lose marks because of me. I was disappointed that my
presentation did not go well.
I thought about it for many days and then I spoke with my friend who is
doing Master in HRM and a good presenter. He gave me some tips for
improvement next time. From his suggestions, I learned following points of
improvement:

 Rely less on hand-written notes and explain material from slides.

This will improve eye contact and body language and audience
will be more interested in presentation
Talk more slowly to make the audience understand
Cover different aspects of topic keep the presenter calm during
question answer session which consequently help to think deeply
and increase listening skills for understanding the question
clearly
I hope in the next presentation, I will remind myself about these points
and I will try my level best to increase my performance which will be
beneficial for me and for my team.

5. Conclusion
Reflective practice is inherent to learn from the past experience and for
improvements in the future. This workshop was really helpful in
introducing me to reflective theories and reflective journal for critically
appraising past events and learning from them. Various theoretical models
are reviewed in this journal and I must say that all have same objective
which is to reflect upon past events for the purpose of learning and
development. Critical discussion on group processes enabled me to
remember how the group was formed with a common agenda using Belbin
team roles and how the responsibilities were assigned and all went well
with no major conflict. The topic of the presentation was quite interesting
and the entire team worked very hard to gather meaningful and relevant
data and summarise it in a presentation file. The overall presentation was
quite good with some nervousness during question-answer session. I
learned a lot of things from this workshop and various skills are developed
such as leadership skills, presentation skills, acting skills, teamwork skills,
management skills, and skills of monitoring and controlling and organising
a small project. I am confident in saying that this experience will help me
in future in improving my performance as an effective and hardworking
team member.

References
Alvarado A.E. and Herr P.R. (2003). Inquiry-Based Learning Using
Everyday Objects: Hands-On Instructional Strategies That Promote Active
Learning in Grades 3-8. Corwin Press
Armstrong M., Brown D. and Reilly P. (2010). Evidence-Based Reward
Management: Creating Measurable Business Impact from Your Pay and
Reward Practices. Kogan Page Publishers
Bell T., Urhahne D., Schanze S., and Ploetzner R. (2010). Collaborative
enquiry learning: Models, tools, and challenges. International Journal of
Science Education, 3(1), pp. 349-377
Belbin R.M. (2012). Team Roles at Work. (2nd ed.), Routledge
Beard C.M. and Wilson J.P. (2006). Experiential Learning: A Best
Practice Handbook for Educators and Trainers. Kogan Page Publishers
Bolton G. (2010). Reflective Practice, Writing and
Development. 3rd edition, California: SAGE publications

Professional

Boud D. and Walker D. (1998) Promoting reflection in professionals

courses: the challenge of context. Studies in Higher Education, 23(2), pp.
191-206.
Capel S. and Breckon P. (2013). A Practical Guide to Teaching Physical
Education in the Secondary School. Routledge
Carper B. (1978). Fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing.
Advances in Nursing Science, 1(1), pp. 13-23
Chiong, S. (2011). Kolb's Learning Styles Model and Experiential
Learning Theory.
Driscoll J. (1994). Reflective practice for practise. Senior Nurse. Vol.13
Jan/Feb. 47 -50
Fien J. and Rawling R. (1996). Reflective Practice: A Case Study of
Professional Development for Environmental Education. The Journal of
Environmental Education, 27 (3), p. 11
Grech E. (2004). Hegels dialectic and reflective practicea short essay.
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 8, 7173.
Greenwood J. (1993). Reflective practice: a critique of the work of
Argyris and Schon. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 19, pp. 1183-1187.
Gibbs G. (1988). Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning
Methods. FEU

Jasper M. (2003). Beginning Reflective Practice. Nelson Thornes

Johns C. (1995). Framing learning through reflection within Carper's
fundamental ways of knowing in nursing. Journal of advanced nursing,
22(2), 22634
Kolb D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of
Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc
McBrien B. (2007). Learning from practice-reflections on a critical
incident. Accident Emergency Nursing, 5(3), pp. 128-133
Moon J. (1999). Reflection in Learning and Professional Development:
theory and practice. Kogan Page, London
Paterson C. and Chapman J. (2013). Enhancing skills of critical
reflection to evidence learning in professional practice. Physical Therapy
in Sport, 14(3), 133-138
Piaget J. (1970). Main trends in psychology. George Allen & Unwin,
London
Price B. (2003). Studying Nursing Using Problem-Based and EnquiryBased Learning. Palgrave Macmillan Limited
Rolfe G., Freshwater D. and Jasper M. (2001). Critical Reflection for
Nursing and the Helping Professions: A users guide. Palgrave Macmillan,
London
Schn D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner, How Professionals Think In
Action. Basic Books
Shapiro H. (2010). John Deweys Reception in Schnian Reflective
Practice. Philosophy of education. Philosophy of Education Society
Yearbook
Trinder L. (2008). Evidence-Based Practice: A Critical Appraisal. John
Wiley & Sons

1
0

Appendix I

1
1

1
2

1
3