ORAL BRIEF

In this presentation, I will provide a critical reflection of my Co-operative Education Experience. I will examine a combination of key learning and work example and how these have impacted on my thinking about my personal development and future career plans.

I work for Zhengzhou Country Garden Hai Long Zhi Ye Company as a market analyst. The company specializes in real estate and partners with restaurants and other hospitality industry players for purposes relating to real estate. My company partners with restaurants all over China and other hospitality participants including hotels to acquire and manage properties both in the construction phases and later in their maintenance. My role in the company is to provide market analysis for different real estate markets within the country for purposes of advising our clients and for managerial decision making intentions. My background as an economics major requires that I lead my team in conducting research, collection of data and its analysis, monitoring economic trends, and developing forecast reports for my organization in the real estate industry that focus on restaurant construction and sales. Real estate markets are very versatile and are affected by the slightest of changes in the national market as well as other external elements such as the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic. It is important that I am able to provide relevant information to my superiors in relation to how different changes in the market lead to various types of impacts on our company. Previously, at the start of the cooperative education program, I was only a part of the team as a market analysis. In the course of the program, I have been promoted to head of market analysis. What has changed is that I am now in charge of an entire department in the market analysis department. My role now includes managing and leading a team of other market analysts, to help in achieving the same goals to management and our clientele including conducting research, collection of data and its analysis, monitoring economic trends, and developing forecast reports for my organization in the real estate industry that focus on restaurant construction and sales.

A key learning experience for me has been the need for collaborative working in the workplace. According to the systems view of management, an organization exists as a complex collection of interrelated parts (Boon, Den Hartog, & Lepak, 2019). These parts, as I learned through my cooperative education and working experience, must constantly work collaborative towards the attainment of a common purpose as outlined by an organization.

For my future personal development, creating a collaborative environment will be a key objective, which will ensure that I am able to learn from others, to showcase my strengths, and to have my weaknesses covered through the strengths of the group. My career plan is to be a leader in the market analysis world and to employ a systems view approach to my area.

My academic progress has been impressive in relation to the issue of being inquiring, open, and an agile thinker able to seek out and address complex problems by applying specialist knowledge in the field of market analysis. Flexibility in operations, thinking, and working are important in creating agility for economists (Shekarian, Nooraie, & Parast, 2020). It is also important within my role as a market analyst and in the real estate industry, which is changing rapidly with the changing global environment.

Questions:

How can businesses incorporate a balanced work-life system?

Is it possible to maintain competitiveness and also ensure that employees are well developed in personal development?

References

Boon, C., Den Hartog, D. N., & Lepak, D. P. (2019). A systematic review of human

resource management systems and their measurement. Journal of management, 45(6), 2498-2537.

Shekarian, M., Nooraie, S. V. R., & Parast, M. M. (2020). An examination of the impact

of flexibility and agility on mitigating supply chain disruptions. International Journal of Production Economics, 220, 107438.