Contents

• This essay is based on the following requirement -
• Background
• Reflective writing is the evidence of reflective thinking and reflective thinking is part of the critical thinking process where people analyse, evaluate and make judgements about behaviour, events, experiences and outcomes to make sense of what happened and to learn how to do things differently in future situations. The practice of reflective thinking will be introduced in this assessment task along with critical analysis skills.
• Reflective thinking is an intellectual exercise that not only requires people to think about past happenings, but to also identify and acknowledge how their personal bias, beliefs and assumptions impact the process. It is well known that effective managers are skilled in the process of reflection and reflective thinking. In this assessment task you are asked to write a reflective essay which is an exercise for you in developing your critical thinking skills. A reflective essay requires you to think about and write about your ideas in relation to a specific topic and it is important to clearly understand what you are being asked to reflect on and how you feel about the topic as part of the process.
• The topic
• For this critical reflection you are required to consider a specific personal example from your workplace that will allow you to write about and reflect upon an ethical issue that has left you feeling troubled, maybe asking yourself how and/or why the particular outcome happened and/or perhaps where you feel you learned a valuable lesson. At the conclusion of the reflection you are required to think back on the corporate ethics and governance material (the literature) you have covered in this semester and provide recommendations or suggestions for how this workplace (or other workplaces) could minimise or prepare for this type of issue or incident happening in the future. We can never remove these issues completely but we can prepare for and recognise them and react appropriately in the workplace. You are asked to make specific recommendations (supported by your reflection and discussion) for changes to policy, practice or procedures that you believe would help in this.
• The three key elements of this assessment task are:
• 1. that the experience you write about has to be personal – something YOU experienced or that had an impact on YOU. Don’t reflect on issues, experiences or scenarios where YOU personally were not affected. Because a reflection exercise is quite personal you will need to explore your own thoughts, feelings, beliefs, prejudices and knowledge about the topic so that you can gauge the level and degree of bias that you will need to moderate throughout your essay;
• 2. it has to be a workplace issue, something that happened either in the workplace or as a result or consequence of your work actions; and
• 3. it has to be an issue that has ethical implications. Either your own personal ethical values and principals or a workplace ethical issue.
• For example if the topic is something that you feel strongly about (gender issues, stereotypes or prejudices in the workplace or environmental destruction), then you need to be careful that your essay does not just confirm or validate your original beliefs and feelings. Recognise and discuss your personal beliefs and biases, look at how they may have effected your thinking, behaviour and/or actions. Question the validity and accuracy of those beliefs and biases now that you have more information (theory) or insight. You need to ensure that you have truly explored the different perspectives, taken note of new or contradictory information and what insights this exercise has given you about your own views, feelings and beliefs.
• The resources provided in the reflective thinking material on the study desk in the assignment area will give you some great insights into reflective writing and thinking that you may also find helpful. This will be a
• very different writing style for many of you and will take some practice and at least two or three drafts to get it right. Critical reflection writing differs from the typical academic essay writing in a number of key ways as follows:
• 1. A critical essay makes use of the first person (this is your reflection and your journey)
• 2. A critical essay considers the self as an object of inquiry (how do you feel?)
• 3. A critical essay incorporates experiences as a form of evidence (When I was faced with a similar problem I did...)
• 4. Both types of writing need to integrate secondary sources of evidence to defend propositions and conclusions (theory about gender stereotypes suggests that...)
• 5. Both types of writing need to incorporate conventional technical writing conventions (grammar, spelling, and structured logic)
• 6. Both types of writing follow appropriate academic citation and referencing guidelines (Harvard AGPS).
• In summary, a critical reflective essay requires you to consider the topic or issue posed and then describe the experience with details that prompt this reflection; Examine and analyse the experience through the integration of personal experiences and academic content to explain what has happened and why it may have occurred, and then discuss or provide possible responses, actions, changes that need to occur or recommendations and implications for the future.

Description

N/A