Module 3 - 1st Blog

Hi all and welcome to module 3 - are we all ready...

I attended the 1st campus session lead by Paula on Friday which was really useful in terms of putting oneself back into the think tank after what felt like such a long time off!

I was able to get more clarity for module 3 which helped immensely, there is a lot of hard work to do, but I have now entered the tunnel, hoping to see this light at the end!  
Paula went through a powerpoint presentation, breaking down module 3 in a simpler form,  in terms of what is expected of us to form our inquiry etc it was really useful, and I suggest if you couldn't make the session definitely downloading the presentation.  I will be going over it often!  

We started the session by discussing the real basic question of 'what actually is an inquiry', basically what are we all doing??
We can use the below 'inquiry cycle' with regards to any particular topic.



The above is also relevant to Kolb's cycle that we looked at in Module 1.  Connecting the 2 more closely I think will be very interesting to look further into.
We need to ask questions, read & learn, look & listen, analyse & interpret, start & plan...

We also discussed literature reviews and how Summon as a tool - found on the libguides is great for finding literature, it's split into genres by articles - press reviews, trade reviews etc which is really helpful, especially if you're like me and through your own research have found the most interesting or relevant articles to be taken from press, at least now I can back up my discussions further where necessary with some sound academic literature.

We discussed how it was important to keep a 'where are you now timeline', just to ensure that you don't get on top of yourself, especially as we have all come this far, we really need to keep on trck for this final, but oh so important module!

We were asked to send our advisors feedback and a loose breakdown of where we are now, at first I wasn't sure what to write, but once I put pen to paper it all became a little clearer.

Everyone is at a loose end where to start, but I suggest putting pen to paper and making a head-start, as the sooner you do this, the sooner your inquiry will begin to take shape.

Happy inquiring...

Intern related articles...

  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/29/anna-wintour-internship-a_n_557656.html

http://collegecandy.com/2010/04/05/should-unpaid-internships-be-illegal/

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/unpaid-internships-bad-for-students-bad-for-workers-bad-for-society/256958/

http://blog.prmoment.com/an-interns-view-on-unpaid-pr-internships/

http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2012/07/27/are-unpaid-internships-worth-the-effort/

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

I have done a lot of reflection throughout this module.  Mainly reflecting on my prior experience interning.  Developing the questions ‘is the experience worthwhile?’ ‘did I gain the necessary experience to help further my career?’.  All of my previous work experience was in a completely contrasting industry – Musical Theatre, therefore I needed the unpaid internships, for me they were compulsory.

I wanted my awards title to be reflective of my current practice, and a subject I felt passionately about.  I initially discussed the idea of further developing the ethical practices within retail buying, but I dismissed this topic soon after, due to the ethical issues that would potentially arise (Appendix A).

After further thought and many discussions with both my advisor and S.I.G groups, I decided on the following title, reflecting both my knowledge and learning,

"Interning as a platform for career development".

I am open to all viewpoints on the topic of internship, so am conscious that being biased will not be an issue. I am not looking for specific answers to my questions, the more variation the better, as no 2 internships are the same, and no 2 practitioners share the same experience.  Hopefully these results will lead me to the truest data outcome possible.

After reading and working through the tasks in Reader 5, ‘Professional Ethics’ and discussing in sessions, we began looking in depth at ethical practice, focusing on ethics in a working environment (Appendix Bi & Bii), what the codes of practice are, and how we will link these to our inquiry.

I will be interviewing people and inviting attendees to my focus group from different career paths including from the world of retail, psychology, performance and HR.

I will not need to contact any companies in terms of ethical practices, as my ethical practices will lie alone with how I conduct myself (Appendix D).

Throughout Reader 6, ‘Tools of Professional Inquiry’, we discussed how to ethically gain the information and data needed to complete our inquiries.  The tools available to use were focus groups, surveys, interviews and observation.  After discussing each tool in detail uncovering the positives and negatives with relation to my own inquiry, I dismissed surveys and observation as not being quite suitable or practical for my inquiry, and piloted both focus groups and Interviews separately (Appendix C).  On reflection, both tools worked perfectly for my inquiry, and in my opinion, using a combination of tools can ensure the analysis of data collected is reliable and can produce valid results, which is inevitably my objective. 

I learnt a lot from my pilot’s including how to improve certain techniques used in holding the focus group mainly, which I will carry forward to Module 3. 

My inquiry required qualitative data instead of quantitive.  My aim is to un-cover attitudes and feelings towards Internship, using the more sympathetic tools - pushing my candidates further and helping un-cover the honest views behind interning. 

My candidates will be kept anonymous, and gain a level of trust and understanding that I would not do anything detrimental to compromise their careers.

In summary, during this module I discovered the level of depth of information I could capture from my inquiry.  Through many discussions with others, either in campus sessions, via S.IG.’s or email, I managed to choose the most relevant methods of tools for my inquiry.  Completing tasks throughout the readers, enabled me to focus on a topic of huge importance to me resulting in my inquiry title.

References

Bell, J. (2005) Doing Your Research Project (4^th ed), Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

BAPP (Arts), Reader 4, Developing Lines Of Professional Inquiry, WBS 3630

Appendices

Appendix A

Sunday, 25 November 2012

4D

http://hannahzapala.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/4d-it-has-taken-me-long-time-to-think.html

Appendix Bi

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

My first campus session – module 2

http://hannahzapala.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/my-campus-session-module-2-i-attended.html

Appendix Bii

Friday, 16 November 2012

Module 2 – Reader 5 – Task 5B

http://hannahzapala.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/0-0-1-825-4705-hannah-louise-zapala-39.html

Appendix C

Friday, 16 November 2012

Module 2 – 4c Part B, Questions developed further

http://hannahzapala.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/0-0-1-363-2071-hannah-louise-zapala-17.html

Appendix D

Sunday, 25 November 2012

5D

http://hannahzapala.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/5d-now-that-i-have-chosen-my-awards.html

5D

Now that I have chosen my awards title, I can now look into the ethical dimensions of conducting my inquiry.

I will be interviewing people from different career paths including from the world of retail, performance and HR.

I will be conducting both one on one interviews and and focus groups.

I will not need to contact any companies in terms of ethical practices, my ethical practices will lie alone with how I conduct myself in the interviews and focus group.  I will be un-biased as to enable me to have the truest outcome possible.
I will conduct all my ethical practice as I have discussed previously in my blog -
http://hannahzapala.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/my-campus-session-module-2-i-attended.html

Looking at my inquiry, I think the issues I will need to look at are mainly confidentiality. I would not want any of my colleagues and friends that I interview to feel pressurised that their opinions will lead to anything detrimental for their personal careers. 

I will need to be conscious, that although I will know my interviewee's the atmosphere needs to be kept professional - formal but friendly, I want them to feel relaxed and open to discuss all areas of the inquiry.

I havent had many comments or emails with regards to my proposed SIG. So any comments are now more welcome than before - have I covered all of the ethics of my inquiry? I myself cannot think of anything I am missing, but please feel free to point anything out as I want to ensure I have all corners covered!

4D

It has taken me a long time to think about my awards title.  I wanted it to be something which was reflective to my current practice, and what I felt passionately about rather than it just being a means to an end.  After much thought and conversations with my advisor Rosemary I have finally come to a decision.

I initially discussed the idea of further developing the ethical practices within retail buying or retail in general, but I would have had to be very careful in terms of the positives and negatives I chose to discuss, disclosing information without highlighting any retailers in particular - would this have been ethical??  I am still early on on my career path and could not afford to investigate further into a company which could then be detrimental to me in my personal practice.  Although the subject interests me hugely, I have chosen to look at a slightly different inquiry which is also a passion of mine as I have subjected myself to this first-hand (which I don't see necessarily as a negative from a personal point of view) as well as a lot of other colleagues both in my industry and different industries - it will be interesting to investigate this further!

"Interning as a platform for career development".

I believe the above title reflects my knowledge and learning, as I have interned in various companies which I do truly feel has led me to where I am today.

I am excited to get my pilot tools organised and interview different people from various career paths including colleagues in the retail world, performers and HR managers, as i feel I need to see the intern world from many different viewpoints to enable me to gather enough substantial evidence to carry out a full and informative inquiry.

20th November - 3rd Campus Session & 6b

I attended the 3rd campus session on Tuesday with Alan, and it really helped put a lot of things in perspective for me with regards to module 2.

Firstly, I was not aware that we were able to choose part of the tile of our degree, quite literally - BA Hons in Professional Practice (Arts) - the Arts section of the title can be linked to whatever you think necessary within reason.  I am writing this info on my blog, as I was completely unaware of this, and for those of you who can't attend every session, you may have been unaware of this really important factor such as I was!  It's important to discuss with your advisor sooner rather than later as the title you wish to use has to be approved via a board at the university beforehand.

We discussed parts of reader 6, including how to gain information for us to complete our inquiries including focus groups, surveys, interviews and observation.  Which one works for you best in terms of the type of inquiry you will be carrying out.

We split up into groups, and my group looked at the positives and negatives of each tool which we then filmed and can be found on Alan's blog below -

http://adurrant.blogspot.co.uk 

I looked at the positives and negatives of using the survey tool-

Positive

-You may encounter a larger responsive audience, simply due to the physical survey being less time consuming .

-By carrying out a survey the candidates can be anonymous, and therefore have a tendency to be more truthful.

-A survey can be precise and direct to the point, where-as in interview, one can have a tendency to go off on a tangent, with a survey this is not he case.

Negative

-Authenticity can be a big negative, as there can b not enough care or though gone into the survey.

-You may encounter incomplete data.

-Non-egagement is a large factor as you do not have face to face interaction with your audience.

We actually decided in the session, that we had loosely carried out a focus group, conversing supporting each other- inputting ideas, which interestingly enough were actually all closely linked, even though our inquiries are all very different.  In effect this was our pilot focus group!

Personally, my inquiry I think is calling out for one on one personal interviews, as interning is such a personal experience that I will not gather the information I quite need from a survey, I need to have more detailed experiences to gage the level of information I need.
I cannot observe people in the workplace of their internship as this will not only not be very convenient, it would be difficult for me to gain access into a workplace due to rules in place within companies.
I may hold a focus group, as it would be good to hear peoples experiences and how they bounce off one another - it would be great to be part of a debate of the positives and negatives of interning.

Module 2 – Reader 5 – Task 5B

Module 2 – Reader 5 – Task 5B

An interesting article I found online conveys what workplace ethics actually are, I thought this would be interesting to share with everyone, as it really helped me almost ‘label’ what we actually decipher as ‘ethics’…

“Workplace ethics are codes of conduct that influence the development of an ethical culture within the workplace. Going beyond what is considered legal in the area where the business operates, workplace ethics inspire communication between employees, allow for respect to be extended to each person within the organization, and promote customer relationships that are based on honesty and integrity. While there are core elements that tend to define a work-based code of ethics, the specific expressions of these central values vary from one corporate setting to the next”.

“Along with being shaped by laws and regulations, workplace ethics are also influenced by business ethics For example, ethical business practices would include actions such as not using marketing materials or campaigns that mislead consumers. Workplace ethics would also involve establishing and operating support networks such as wellness programs that help employees be healthy and happy. Ethics of this type would also involve the conscious effort to cultivate a working environment where people want to come to work and be productive because of pride in what they do for a living”.

“While businesses tend to comply with laws and regulations set by local jurisdictions, not every company sees the need to develop workplace ethics that affirm the worth of employees and motivate them to be productive on the job. When a company chooses to do no more than what is required by local law, the chances of heavy employee turnover are much higher. In addition, it is easier for cliques to develop among certain groups of employees, a state that can often undermine productivity and cost the company a great deal in terms of time and revenue generation”.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-workplace-ethics.htm

With regards to my personal ‘code of conduct’, the retailer I work for has a very strong ‘code of ethics and behavior’ which you can read in the link and also pdf link below.

http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/howwedobusiness/our_policies/our_people

http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/documents/specific/investors/governance/code_of_ethics.pdf

published September 2012

Both of the above documents are viewable for anyone, proving how passionate we are for what we stand for.

“We are committed to doing the right thing, the right way”.

Marc Bolland Chief Executive

All M&S employees are required to adhere to the Code and the policies it refers to. We all have a responsibility to protect the Company’s reputation in everything we do and say. We are to ensure that we have thoroughly read, understood and act in accordance with the Code and the various policies embedded in it. M&S want their employees to understand why this is important and what is expected of all employees.

It is imperative that we represent ourselves properly, as otherwise it can be detrimental to the brand.  I am passionate to work for the brand and therefore agree and apply myself daily to the code of conduct expected of me.  It sounds a little regimented when I say it like this, but working for one of the UK’s most ethically proven companys Is brilliant as I can literally practice what I preach!

I have also found a couple of interesting articles on ethical trading standards, showing how ethics are applied within retail –

http://www.ethicaltrade.org/in-action/people/louise-nicholls

A brilliant quote taken from the above is…

“In future, ethics should be as important as quality for all businesses”.

I agree whole heartedly with the above article, and if you are interested in trading standards, read the above for an insight!

Another interesting article with regards to ethical standards, and how Marks & Spencer set out plans to become the world's most sustainable retailer by 2015 can be found in the below it includes a little info on PLAN A (http://plana.marksandspencer.com/about), our strategy launched in January 2007, setting out 100 commitments to achieve in 5 years. We've now extended Plan A to 180 commitments to achieve by 2015, with the ultimate goal of becoming the world's most sustainable major retailer.

Through Plan A we are working with our customers and our suppliers to combat climate change, reduce waste, use sustainable raw materials, trade ethically, and help our customers to lead healthier lifestyles. It has been named Plan A, as unfortunately there is no Plan B!

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/marks--spencer-aims-to-lead-world-in-ethical-trading-6728440.html