MBA600 Capstone Strategy Essay Sample

MBA600 Capstone: Strategy Essay

Your Task

Individually, you are required to reflect on the learnings gained from undertaking the capstone subject and assessments by writing a 2000 word reflective essay.

Assessment Description.

The purpose of this assessment is to foster students ability to coherently reflect on their undertaking of the Capstone: Strategy subject together with a reflection on their entire MBA.

Assessment Instructions

You are required to look back at their MBA course as a whole and identify the specific skills developed that will assist them in becoming effective practitioners in the workplace. Learning is a persistent change in performance or potential that results from experience and interaction. Reflective learning is the process of stepping back from these experiences and reflecting on how skills, attitudes, mindset and behaviours have evolved.

Your reflective essay must cover the following:

• Introduction.
• A brief discussion on the value of reflective practice for managers and leaders.
• A personal reflection on learnings from the capstone subject and consultancy research process.
• A personal reflection on skills developed over the MBA.
• A personal reflection on how these will assist in future career endeavours.
• Conclusions.
• Reference list (or possibly in this instance a Bibliography).

The reflective essay should include a discussion of learnings from both a theoretical and practical perspective. Additionally, insights from undertaking assessments and research, capstone lessons as well as group activities from this and other subjects over the duration of the course. Specific examples should be cited to support and justify all points.

Solution

Introduction 

The purpose of this essay is to reflect on my participation in the capstone project and various modules undertaken during the MBA course. In this regard, I have come to understand how reflective practice in writing about my experience can help me develop multiple critical and analytical capabilities required for the students in this 21st century. Reflection is engaging in different analytical thinking procedures, which enable individuals to get accustomed to difficult situations (Fook, 2015). As per the MBA Assignment Experts, As a result, these reflective individuals become more capable of gaining life-long learning alongside improving theoretical knowledge and practical skills.

Reflective Practice Importance for Managers and Leaders 

Leaders and managers must undertake effective strategies for facing the challenges of the growing complexity and multicultural issues in the global business environment. In this regard, reflection becomes an effective practice for the learning process involved in effective leadership development and improvement of management abilities. Reflective practice is beneficial for both leaders and managers to help them think critically and evaluate their skills, behaviours, attitudes and capabilities for identifying strengths and weaknesses (Horton-Deutsch and Sherwood, 2017). This reflective observation has emerged as an integral part of their learning cycle, enabling managers and leaders to enhance their self-awareness, self-confidence, organisational experience and feeling of empowerment. In this way, these individuals can improve their self-concept and professional skills, which further help them lead and manage both employees and the organisation efficiently.

Furthermore, reflective practice helps individuals gain detailed insights into their skills, strengths, capabilities and weaknesses, which generally include their perspectives, experiences, values and beliefs (Castelli, 2016). Therefore, managers and leaders can participate in a deliberate and cognitive process of reflection to clear their doubts, mental difficulties, hesitations and confusions. Such reflective practice helps research, analyse and clarify doubts or confusion, enabling individuals to identify ways of eliminating them. This shows that the deliberative process is essential for individuals to learn about themselves alongside enhancing their qualities for performing in the organisations (Benade, 2015). It becomes necessary for managers and leaders because they gain self-control and self-awareness from this reflection, which further helps them manage their employees. This is because individuals can't understand others or analyse their difficulties without facing their strengths and weaknesses (Bleach, 2014). Thus, reflective practice has emerged as a significant concept of the learning process for managers and leaders to explore their skills, understand their behaviour and gain knowledge about themselves.

Learning from Capstone and Consultancy Research Process 

I have undergone various modules and materials throughout the MBA course and capstone project, enabling me to gain widespread knowledge about different concepts. In the capstone project, I prepared a business report on the organisation JB Hi-Fi to analyse the firm's current competitive strategies. In this regard, various aspects of the first capstone module of Strategy have been helpful for me. For example, I applied the Porter's Five Forces Model for assessing the competitive intensity of the retail consumer electronics goods industry where JB Hi-Fi operates (Ford, 2020). Furthermore, I was further able to include performance measurement in this capstone project with the help of the KPI method and including specific criteria like financial performance, customer satisfaction, cost infrastructure and brand reputation. Besides, I could effectively use the balanced scorecard strategic model for identifying areas of improvement in the strategic planning process of JB Hi-Fi (Hasan and Chyi, 2017). In this regard, three modules of the capstone, namely, strategy concepts, internal sources of competitive advantage and competition strategy, were significant in helping me apply the theoretical knowledge in this business project. Here, I also used the knowledge of conducting secondary research to collect information about JB Hi-Fi to complete the capstone project. In addition, the module named Appraising performance and Strategy has also helped measure the performance of the company. In carrying out the capstone business project, the role of metrics in the strategy module helped to select the critical criteria that could be used for measuring the performance.

Three other significant modules under the capstone subject that were enhanced by theoretical knowledge were constructing business models, designing primary research and leading change. In this regard, I have learnt about the four steps of developing sustainable business models for the firms. These include segmenting the target market, creating a value proposition for each segment, implementing mechanisms for capturing value from each part and isolating mechanisms for preventing imitation and disintermediation (Lynch, 2018). Here, I also came to know about the application of the business model canvas and its essential elements. Furthermore, the primary research design further helped me carry out dissertation projects during my MBA course. In addition, the leading module change has been of great significance to develop my knowledge about how change is initiated and implemented in organisations with the help of successful leadership (Lawrence, 2015). Thus, these modules of the capstone subject not only helped me to complete the business report but also enhanced my theoretical knowledge about strategic management.

I also gained other knowledge from various other MBA modules. For example, the governance, ethics and sustainability module has enabled me to understand how organisations must also serve other purposes besides their profit motive. Firms are expected to conduct businesses responsibly to minimise their harmful effects on society and the environment (Sahar, Zulkifli and Zakaria, 2018). These business operations must also be carried out ethically and sustainably. Furthermore, I have learnt about various financial and economic aspects from modules like international economics and multi-national finance, new venture capital raising and financial and economic interpretation and communication. The module of people, culture and contemporary leadership has enhanced my knowledge about various aspects of human resources in the organisation. I have realised the importance of effective leadership styles and strategies for managing people or employees and implementing change in the organisations. Here, I have learnt about different leadership styles like democratic, transformational, transactional, situational, charismatic and others (Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy, 2014). In this regard, I also learnt about leaders affecting both people and change in the organisations. Besides, the module of emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence and diversity has further gained my attention in the MBA course. This is because it has helped me to realise the significance of fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace by enhancing the cultural intelligence of employees. It also helped me to develop my own cultural intelligence alongside improving emotional intelligence.

Skills Developed Over MBA 

The capstone project along with the MBA course have helped me to develop key skills and abilities that would be beneficial for me in my future career. I have identified these skills and further improved them over the entire course by participating in different individual and group projects. My communication, team working and communication skills have significantly developed in this regard. Previously, I avoided any projects that would require me to speak publicly in front of the classmates and teachers. However, I gradually developed self-confidence and improved my communication skills by participating in PowerPoint presentations. Group projects further enhanced my skills as I had to listen, understand and communicate with my team members. Furthermore, during the entire course, I participated in several group activities like role-playing, presentations, projects and others. This helped in developing both interpersonal skills and team working abilities. I have enhanced my patience level by being more tolerant and respectful towards contradictory opinions. In this regard, I entered into an argument with one of my team members during a group project in the initial semester. Nevertheless, I eventually learnt how to negotiate and convince others by justifying my opinions. This further helped me to improve conflict resolution skills that enabled me to avoid potential conflicts in the later projects. Alongside this, I was able to develop leadership abilities during the MBA course. This is because I had already built negotiation, conflict resolution, communication, team working and interpersonal skills during the course. These skills further contributed towards undertaking effective decisions by taking the lead in group projects. Thus, they helped in my leadership development.

I have also developed critical thinking, analytical, problem solving and decision-making skills. This has been easier because alongside participating in business projects and group projects, we also had to involve in role playing of real business scenarios. Such projects were helpful in motivating them to think outside of the box and focus on effectively analysing the situation. The role-playing was also useful for gaining insight into real-life business situations that eventually helped me to develop problem solving skills. These conceptual projects involving various activities and tasks enabled me to think about solutions from different perspectives. Previously it was difficult for me to accomplish conceptual tasks but acquiring these skills eventually made them easier. Alongside developing and enhancing these vital skills, I further built decision-making abilities. In this regard, I analysed situations for undertaking quick and effective decisions by arriving at a solution after evaluating the alternative options from positive and negative perspectives. Here, undertaking short-term and quick decisions during different group projects for reaching the desired outcomes has further helped in improving my decision-making skills. It further helped me to differentiate between routine decisions and significant ones. I felt that taking routine decisions was much easier than the strategic ones. Nonetheless, I eventually learnt about making vital decisions depending upon the crisis.

Furthermore, I came across various stressful situations that was one of the significant challenges during the MBA course. This is because I attended regular classes of the course, prepared individual projects and presentations, appeared for examinations and was further involved in group activities. I had to handle all these different tasks and activities simultaneously, which initially generated stress on my mental and physical health. However, I eventually learnt about prioritising tasks based on their urgency, which further helped me to complete them within stipulated time. It enabled me to understand the importance of time management and further helped me to handle stressful situations in an effective manner. I have also developed adaptability skills by experiencing such situations as I have become more capable of making necessary changes to my daily routine in completing important tasks.

Future Career Endeavours 

The capstone subject and entire MBA course have not only helped me to gain widespread theoretical knowledge, but also developed key skills and abilities that will help me in my professional career. I have been able to clear my concepts on various subjects like human resources, strategic management, international finance, cultural intelligence and workplace diversity, organisational change, consumer behaviour, leadership, people management, corporate governance, ethics and sustainability. I have also developed various soft skills including communication, interpersonal, team working, conflict resolution, critical thinking, problem solving, analytical thinking, decision-making, time management and adaptability. These skills have helped me to improve my personality, which will be beneficial for me in my future professional life. I will use these skills to display positive behaviours and attitudes in the future workplace, contribute towards team harmony and work on achieving the desired objectives in my future company. I will further use them to help my peers in practical and difficult business scenarios by applying my theoretical knowledge. These skills will also help me to handle these situations in an efficient way, respond to workplace stress and responsibly carry out all the activities. Thus, this course and the capstone project have been beneficial for both professional and personal growth and development.

Conclusion 

The essay aimed at reflecting on the capstone project along with the different modules undertaken in the MBA course. In this regard, I provided a brief overview about the significance of reflective writing on my future career along with a proper definition for understanding the reflection process. I further reviewed the importance of reflective practice for both leaders and managers. Then, I reflected on the capstone project and MBA journey by reviewing different courses or modules undertaken within them. It was further followed by a personal reflection about skills developed during MBA. Lastly, I pointed out how this would contribute towards my professional and personal development. 

Reference List

Benade, L., 2015. Teachers’ critical reflective practice in the context of twenty-first century learning. Open Review of Educational Research, 2(1), pp.42-54.

Bleach, J., 2014. Developing professionalism through reflective practice and ongoing professional development. European early childhood education research journal, 22(2), pp.185-197.

Castelli, P.A., 2016. Reflective leadership review: A framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), pp. 217-236.

Fook, J., 2015. Reflective practice and critical reflection. Handbook for practice learning in social work and social care: Knowledge and theory, 3. Jessica Kingsley

Ford, J.B., 2020. Competitive advantage. In The Routledge Companion to Strategic Marketing (pp. 141-150). Routledge.

Hasan, R.U. and Chyi, T.M., 2017. Practical application of Balanced Scorecard-A literature review. Journal of Strategy and Performance Management, 5(3), p.87.

Horton-Deutsch, S. and Sherwood, G.D., 2017. Reflective practice: Transforming education and improving outcomes (Vol. 2). Sigma Theta Tau.

Lawrence, P., 2015. Leading change–Insights into how leaders actually approach the challenge of complexity. Journal of Change Management, 15(3), pp.231-252.
Lynch, R., 2018. Strategic management. Pearson UK.

Nanjundeswaraswamy, T.S. and Swamy, D.R., 2014. Leadership styles. Advances in management, 7(2), p.57.

Sahar, E., Zulkifli, N. and Zakaria, Z., 2018. Corporate governance integration with sustainability: a systematic literature review. Corporate Governance: The international journal of business in society, 9(2), pp. 255-269.