Learning To Improve Presentation Skills - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Learning To Improve Presentation Skills. Answer: Introduction The concerned assignment takes into account the Pecha Kucha presentation which has been based on the strategic management and was conducted as a group activity, by a team. For the purpose of understanding the purpose and contents of the presentation it is important for us to know about the notion of strategic management in the context of business (Levin and Peterson 2013). The term Strategic Management can be broadly defined as the formation and implementation of a framework of effective strategies, such that the concerned institution can manage their resources efficiently and use their strategic framework to achieve their individual organizational goals and objectives. (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). Strategic Management Given this scenario, our project was to prepare a team presentation regarding the role and significance of the concept of strategic management, in the daily business activities under the domain of the contemporary business framework and the implications of such strategic management framework in the development of the businesses as a whole and their long term profitability and sustainability. For the purpose of the same, we needed to prepare a Pecha Kucha Presentation based on the roles of strategic management in the contemporary commercial institutions, which was to be submitted to the class instructor (Eden and Ackermann 2013). Pecha Kucha Presentation The Pecha Kucha format of presentation (Pecha Kucha meaning chit chat in Japanese) is mainly Japanese style of presenting any topic or scenario, in which there usually remains twenty slides and the duration for presentation of each of the slides is conventionally twenty seconds, thereby making the duration of the total presentation of about six minutes and forty seconds (McDonald and Derby 2015). We needed to abide by these norms of the Pehca Kucha presentation, which is popular for being fast paced, informative as well as contextual form of presenting any topic of discussion, vision or thought. My role in the group presentation For the concerned group presentation, I was nominated as the leader for our team, which bestowed me with the responsibility of dividing the total work load equally and assign different activities and workloads to my other team members and also look after the smooth and hassle free running of the team activity. Additionally I was also assigned the responsibility to present the same in front of the instructor (Schlenker 2012). I divided the entire presentation in different parts and gave the responsibility of researching and collecting materials for each of these parts to each of my team members. After the collection of relevant materials and sufficient research by mu team members, I integrated all the collected information to form the framework of the actual presentation (West 2012). As a part of my responsibility, I also briefed my team on the very first day of our activity, regarding the topic of strategic management in business which we have selected, the significance of the same in the contemporary commercial scenario in the global framework. After the rough construction of the draft of the presentation, I also took the responsibility of presenting the same in front of all my team members in order to see how efficiently we have done our work and what changes and additions we need to make in our final presentation before I present it in front of our instructor (Belbin 2012). This rehearsal in front of my team was necessary, as this also facilitated discussions and integration of the concepts and ideas of different team members regarding different aspects of the presentation. This integration was immensely crucial as it helped us in overcoming the flaws and hurdles which were faced by the team members individually, in their own assigned job roles and research and this made our presentation robust and informative in an overall basis. However, during the entire time span of the team activity, there were several challenges and problems faced among the team members which affected the team dynamics significantly, thereby giving me the scope of utilizing my leadership skills in an efficient manner (Nancarrow et al. 2013). Team Dynamics: Challenges faced in our team activity While carrying out the group activity which was assigned to us, I noticed several issues and challenges cropping up and considerable dynamics in our team, which affected our productivity both individually as well as cumulatively: a) Difficulty in getting started- The first and foremost hurdle which our team and I, as a leader, faced while starting our activity was the problem of culminating the vision and objective of our team activity and the purpose of the same among all the team members. The team members were not highly communicative in the preliminary period, which made it a problem for me to understand their strengths and what roles I can assign to them to make the best use of their skills and abilities. b) Ineffective communication- Another problem, hampering the team dynamics was the lack of communication among the team members, especially during the initial starting time of our group activity. There existed substantial misunderstandings among the different team members due to lack of group communication, which also led to the formation of sub-groups within the team itself. c) Conflict within the team- Due to the lack of proper communication among the different team members, we often experienced conflicts among the team members, especially regarding their job roles, presentation of ideas and modus operandi of the team. The notion of competitiveness also contributed to this ideological conflict which affected the team dynamics. Many times this barred impartial hearing and accepting ideas and concepts put forward by different team members (Gundersen, Hellesy and Raeder 2012). d) Confusions regarding how to progress- Our assigned task being preparation of a group presentation on the role of strategic management in the contemporary business scenario, it was extremely crucial for each of the team members, including myself to understand the rising significance of the same in the current period. Along with that we were also required to design the way we need to progress to complete our task, the methodologies we need to follow to research, collect, analyze and interpret the relevant data. There were considerable confusions prevailing among the members which affected the process by slowing us down. e) Deadline issues- Time management being one of the crucial issues in any team activity, there were often issues of slow work and late submission of the tasks assigned to several members which led to some amount of confusions and hurdles in cumulating all the works together and forming the original presentation (Edmondson 2012). All these aspects of the team dynamics, creating hurdles on the path of completion of our group presentation, were required to be removed efficiently. I, being nominated as the leader of the group had to take up this responsibility, which I did in the manner which is discussed in the following section. My role as a leader in ruling out the problems As the leader of the team, I took the following steps to ensure that the team activity is done efficiently with the consent of all the members and each member contributed efficiently and not forcibly but happily: a) Ensuring communication among the members- To rule out the problem of lack of understanding among the team members, which I felt was extremely crucial to get the job done smoothly, I arranged for frequent discussion sessions, often casual and over coffee, such that the members mix with each other at a casual and informal level. This helped us to create a mutual understanding among the team members and helped considerably in ruling out the intra-team conflict (Edmondson 2012). b) Setting up deadlines- I, after team discussion and consent from all the members, set up deadlines for each task and encouraged the members to stick to the deadline and provide their progress reports to the team, thereby creating an avenue to arrange for the succeeding tasks. c) Free flow of ideas- To make the activity more interesting and to encourage each member, I encouraged each of them to brainstorm and come up with their ideas freely and without any inhibition in front of team discussions, which were frequently arranged. Each of the members was made to feel equally important by giving them equal opportunities to speak, discuss, critically evaluate others point of views and chances to come up with rectifications and suggestions (Northouse 2015). Lessons learnt: Scope of improvement From our group work and from my responsibility as a team leader, the primary lesson which I learnt and which will help me in my future team endeavor is the aspect of time management. Me and the team as a whole also learnt the need to communicate efficiently and come up with ideas without any inhibition. We also learnt that it is immensely important for each member to keep the goals of the team above any other individual priorities. All these lessons together are expected to improve our future abilities to work together in any project as a team. References Belbin, R.M., 2012.Team roles at work. Routledge. Eden, C. and Ackermann, F., 2013.Making strategy: The journey of strategic management. Sage. Edmondson, A.C., 2012. Teamwork on the fly.Harvard Business Review,90(4), pp.72-80.. Teamwork on the fly.Harvard Business Review,90(4), pp.72-80. Gundersen, G., Hellesy, B.T. and Raeder, S., 2012. Leading international project teams: The effectiveness of transformational leadership in dynamic work environments.Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies,19(1), pp.46-57. Hill, C.W., Jones, G.R. and Schilling, M.A., 2014.Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning. Levin, M.A. and Peterson, L.T., 2013. Use of Pecha Kucha in Marketing Students' Presentations.Marketing Education Review,23(1), pp.59-64. McDonald, R.E. and Derby, J.M., 2015. Active learning to improve presentation skills: The use of pecha kucha in undergraduate sales management classes.Marketing Education Review,25(1), pp.21-25. Nancarrow, S.A., Booth, A., Ariss, S., Smith, T., Enderby, P. and Roots, A., 2013. Ten principles of good interdisciplinary team work.Human resources for Health,11(1), p.19. Northouse, P.G., 2015.Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications. Schlenker, B.R., 2012. Self-presentation. West, M.A., 2012.Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organizational research. John Wiley Sons.