Reflective Account Of A Project On Diwan Of Royal Court, Oman

Reflection on Journey

Identifies an issue in your own organisation that has multiple and varied approaches to its resolution. This should be current or impending but not a past issue.

The report basically highlights the reflective account relating to my learning experience in the study course. I have included a number of personal unstructured situations, the generation process of new knowledge, the overall learning evaluation and my approach to learning, and the ways in which I can use my learning experience to enhance my strengths and capabilities. I have carried out this reflection process with the objective to comprehend how my knowledge and learning has grown during the course of the period. The context revolves around the academic work “Diwan of Royal Court, Oman.” The work has been a great learning experience for me because it has taught me to strengthen my problem identification and solving skills.

The reflective approach would ultimately help me to acquire a deeper level of learning i.e. I could understand the latent concepts and theories and put them to practical application in the near future. The report covers my learning experience, a number of reflective theories and my ultimate take on the project work. I have used the Schon's model of reflection so that I can pay critical attention to the different values and theories that I have learned during the learning process (Martin, 2012). My personal development has been a major part of the report. Thus the readers can get an idea about my journey in the academic setting, the discovery, reflection theory, and ultimate personal development. It is a key component of my learning process that would help me in the near future.

The overall learning experience in the project was very enriching for me because it helped me to identify my strengths and weakness. It also helped me to understand my adaptability skills. When I started the project work I was not sure how I would be able to manage the entire assignment since it concerned the real-life scenario of Diwan of Royal Court, Oman. But once I was involved in the learning process I realized that I needed to take one step at a time so that I could effectively strengthen my learning outcome in the process. A key factor that helped me to give my hundred percent effort is my dedication and willingness to learn. I was able to use my analytical skills to identify the most vital issue that limits the administrative skills of the Royal Court of Oman (Mullins, 2007).

My initial progress was somewhat slow because I was not able to understand the various administrative aspects that must be taken into account to improve the work setting of the government agency. So I had to revise the concepts and principles all over again. This step helped me tremendously.

After the quick revision, I was able to relate the theoretical concepts and techniques with the practical administrative setting (Nardini, et al., 2014). Even though I faced various hurdles in the learning process like the limited time, involvement in other assignments, etc. But all these obstacles ultimately helped me to improve my multi-tasking skills and competency level. This learning experience has been extremely critical and motivating for me. In the future, while working on projects I will try to effectively work on my time management skills so that my learning and performance can be even better.

Reflection on Discovery

The initial obstacle that I encountered while working on the project was that I was getting distracted due to various external factors including other topics that could be used for the project work, the availability of a large number of tools, working on other subjects and assignments and personal factors (Paech, Delater & Hesse, 2014). Initially, these elements had affected my learning and had demotivated me while working on the project. Then I decided to maintain a notebook so that I could maintain the daily progress of the project. At first, it felt meaningless and inconvenient. But after a couple of weeks, that notebook acted as a source of inspiration and helped me to move forward with the project. I was able to understand the major issue that was hindering the administrative operations of the Royal Court of Oman by applying different theories into practice.

My reflection on action primarily covers my entire learning process and the various things that I have learnt from the experience (Pagiola & Arcenas, 2013). The discovery process was not easy at first since I was not aware of my key capabilities and strengthens.  But the project helped me to identify my ability to deliver in the most challenging circumstances. The analysis and interpretation of the practical scenario seemed quite challenging since in the real-life setting numerous elements affect the administrative performance that are not highlighted in the textbook theories like the competency level of administrative staff, their attitude towards work, the internal rapport, willingness to learn, their adaptability, etc. While working on the project, I understood that the assessment of the key stakeholders is vital to bring about necessary changes in the administrative setting (Phillips, 2013).

Once I was involved in the core project, I made it a point to note down all the areas that needed further assessment and analysis. This helped me to revisit the specific areas of concern and revise the theories. Another vital element that helped in my project was the regular discussion with my roommate about the new topics and theories that were applied in the Diwan of Royal Court, Oman setting. This approach helped me to revise all the theories that were covered in the sessions and effectively apply them in the practical scenario (Radu, et al., 2014).

If I get a chance to work on the same project I would make certain changes in my mode of work. As stated earlier, my initial progress was not effective due to my inner fear on the topic and other external factors. I would make sure to follow a more focused and dedicated approach while working on a project. It is natural to face challenges while working on a new topic. But the best way to handle it is to work on my strengths and capabilities. I would locate my weaknesses so that I could use the learning experience to convert them into my major skills.

The reflective theory that I have used to share my learning experience is the “Schon's model of reflection”. According to the Schon's model of reflection, there are two kinds of reflection including the “reflection in action” and the “reflection on action”. The reflection in action basically focuses on my experience, my ability to think on the exact action plan and the next step, and the ability to act straight away (Martinsuo & Hoverfält, 2017). The reflection on action highlights my thinking ability relating to the activities that had happened during the learning process, my ability to adopt a different thinking model in the future and managing time. I have used such a reflective approach since it would assist me to reflect on the learning process and the outcome of the learning experience.

Reflection Theory – Schon's model of reflection

My learning experience was unique for me since it helped me to identify and learn about the theoretical aspects and their application in the real-life circumstances. I was able to apply a wide variety of tools, techniques and models that helped me to strengthen my overall learning. It helped me to identify various resolution techniques that could be used by the administrative government agency to easy its administrative problems (Sadoddin, et al., 2016).

My learning graph got expanded while working on the project because I was able to use the different set of tools to overcome set of challenges while working on the assessment and evaluation of the project activity. Since there are various kinds of tools like the task network model, fishbone diagram, laddering model, etc. I was able to implement these techniques in this particular project scenario to make most feasible and suitable recommendations for the identified problem of the Royal Court of Oman. I am currently happy with my learning experience but I feel that I have the potential to use different models and techniques to analyze the same situation from a different perspective (Sarkar & Panchal, 2015). This would allow me to expand my learning horizon that could be used in my personal setting, academic setting and the professional setting. Thus my reflection highlights my positive attitude towards the entire learning process and its outcome (Sarriot, et al., 2015).

No learning process is easy. The project has made me realize that in order to derive some kind of value from a learning experience it is necessary to face and conquer the various challenges that arise during the entire process. The unique challenges that I faced during the process include the identification of the major issues of Diwan of Royal Court of Oman, ascertaining the most vital problem that affects its overall administrative performance at the national level, assessing its operational setting and the power of the stakeholders in the process, and forming recommendations that would create value not just for the government agency but also for the key stakeholders, boosted my thinking approach (Rebelo, Santos & Silva, 2014). At first, the application of the theoretical concepts, models and practices in the practical scenario really seemed difficult to me due to the existence of various factors in the real-life scenario. But gradually the theories and concepts that were taught in the class made better sense to me (Rodney, et al., 2015).

Reflection in Action

My personal reflection shows that I have undergone various situations that were full of challenges and opportunities. Both the aspects have helped me to identify my skills and knowledge and strengthen them in the learning process. The various strategies and models that I have used to overcome the challenges in the learning process have helped me to expand my learning horizon.

After the project was over I went through the notebooks that I had maintained during the process. I was happy to know that I remembered most of the theoretical dimensions, tools and models that had been used by me while working on the Diwan of Royal Court, Oman. When I was able to apply to theoretical concepts in the practical setting, I realized that I could remember the concepts and their application in a better way and for a longer period of time (Romanazzi, et al., 2016). I believe my learning experience has helped me to add value to my personal and academic development. In future, I would use different approaches while dealing with problems like the soft systems approach.

The project on Diwan of Royal Court, Oman has helped me to apply different tools like Stakeholder Power Matrix to assess the real-life issues. In future, I can become a better practitioner by using other models and techniques. Their use would help me to strengthen my effective problem-solving ability and identify the new challenges that arise in the practical environment (Rubio-Martin, Macian-Sorribes & Pulido-Velazquez, 2017).

Conclusion

The project has helped me to learn about my core academic strengths and ability. I feel like I have evolved while taking part in the project activity. When I started working on the project, I was somewhat skeptical about the activity and I was not sure whether I would be able to deliver in the process or not. I think this anxiousness was a natural response that was showcased by me. Once I was involved in the activity, my interest and dedication were intensified and I wanted to use the theoretical knowledge to solve the problem that was being faced by the Diwan of Royal Court, Oman.

Since learning is a never-ending process, I want to get involved in more projects which would give me the opportunity to apply the acquired theoretical knowledge in the practical setting. This would allow me to use the different principles and practices in the actual setting so that the organizations that face issues can be made feasible and effective recommendations. I have been able to obtain the views of a variety of people regarding this problem and this has helped me to take into account the perspective of others while assessing a particular problem or situation. Thus this enriching learning experience has helped me to explore my skills and knowledge in a better way. The project has allowed me to develop personally and in the academic sense as well.

References

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