Fluent Essays

Question In a 4 – 6 page paper based on your internship course experience and the learning objectives achieved during the course, review your internship experience successes and challenges leading to growth. You should demonstrate in your paper a description of your professional portfolio and include any evidence of accomplishment and skill development or recognition that you have acquired this session and how it will contribute to your portfolio. Note: 1. At least 4-6 pages  2. Journal needs to be formatted in APA 7th edition 3. Need to have at least 2 peer-reviewed articles as the references (Recommend to find the articles from proquest. 4. Need to include introduction and conclusion. 5. Please read the word file attached Week 1 to week 14 discussion for Internship Course prior writing the journal to understand what am I doing for my job and my experiences. 6. I have also attached Journal for Internship Course which you wrote it for me before, and please also use that as the reference, and do not repeat the contents. 1 Internship Journal. Student’s Name: Institutional Affiliation: Professor’s Name: Date: Introduction. When writing a journal, it is a reflection and a review of the experiences that we undergo on a day to day basis. Thus being a believer in journal keeping grows the habit of keeping a record of the occurrences that occur each and every day. Through the keeping of journals, record are kept and they can be used in future and for a reflection for experiences that a person has gone through (Addey, 2017). The journal records outlined below are a summation of the activities that occurred when acting as an intern, the skills that were accrued and the influence of what was learnt upon me. Since the onset of the course, I have had a desire to learn and also to share the different skills learnt with the rest of the class. Further, I have the goal of exploring various career opportunities and from them share the different experiences in journaling and business management strategies. Experienced success. The first thing that I consider to have been a success is the creation of a professional journal. It is the first journal that I have ever created and it has had a huge impact. The journal gave me a chance to reflect upon the experiences that I have accrued over time (Addey, 2017). The journal gave me the chance to track the progress that I have made in terms of my career and to assess whether I was attaining any levels of success. Further, I was able to keep track of my personal portfolio and investments and to constantly review them. One of the most important lessons that I learnt from the first job that I took is the importance of working as a member of a team. I worked for a duration of one and a half years and during this time, I learnt the important aspect of being a member of a team in the workplace. Success in the workplace is dependent directly upon the cohesion of the members of the team (Addey, 2017). It is them that define the quality of output. From the team that I worked with, I learnt the important aspects of what it calls to be a manager. These lessons proved to come in handy later in the field and in my marketing strategies. Using the knowledge accrued, I was able to complete the creation of a new delivery application that proved essential to the growth of sales pf the company. The sales margins that were experienced by the company increased as a result of the steps that I took. Further, I was able to draw in a partnership for the company with one of the largest brands in China that are into the distribution of electric goods in China. It created a new slot in the market for the supply of electric goods for the company in terms of the supply of electronics and of home equipment. Further, I was able to solicit an interview with Mr. Frank Li, the CEO and founder of the company which also proved to be a major learning opportunity. Another aspect that I consider to be a success is achieving a sense of balance between the e-commerce retail section and the entire business. It is a factor that promoted the growth of the company and as a result, it also increased the revenue of the company (Addey, 2017). It also proved to be an essential experience finding a balance between cultural concerns and good leadership for the organization. Good organizational culture experienced throughout the course of the internship proved that decision making and performance are directly influenced by the culture of the company (Addey, 2017). Further, teamwork, professionalism and enhanced communication skills saw to the success of the company and also facilitated the growth of the company. Another factor that I consider to be a symbol of success was the incorporation of the culture of the United States into the organization. Different countries have different cultures and these vary. However, for a business to be successful, there is a need to have a way to incorporate the cultures together so that the business can mesh together the cultures to be able to achieve success. Culture also influences the behaviors of employees and all around it has an influence upon the behaviors of the employees. Further, all around culture also has an influence upon the success of the business (Addey, 2017). Thus meshing the Chinese and the American culture was a factor that contributed to the success of the organization. Challenges. Apart from the experiences at work that promoted the high points of my internship, there are also factors that proved to be a challenge to my work environment. One of the challenges that I experienced was controlling time. When conducting the interview with Mr. Frank Li, the time that I had set for the interview proved to be insufficient. As a result, I had to use an excessive amount of time which would not have sat well with the CEO as he a man of many duties. Asking the right questions also proved to be a challenge for me. Picking out the correct question also proved to be a challenge. There is a need to be able to identify questions that will elicit the expected responses instead of drawn out random answers. The other challenge that I experienced was the implementation of changes within the organization (Doyle, 2017). It is a challenge because being new and an intern, some of the members of the senior management proved to be barriers to the ideas. Further, the ideas that I had to pose had to be perfect because a little mistake was bound to mess things up. Finally, any change that I was suggesting had to result in the growth of the organization and further, it had to match with the objectives, goals, and the vision of the company. Another factor that proved to be a challenge was getting Mr. Frank for an interview. The reason for this is because he is a man that operates on a schedule and as a result, I had to schedule time that would be appropriate for him. However, it was a goal that I also achieved. Lessons learnt. One of the most essential lessons learnt was the importance of effective leadership. Effective leadership brings together all the factors of production and ensure that all the employees have a common goal and a purpose that suits the mission of the organization (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015). Effective leaders ensure that all the factors of production are at play and that a common goal is achieved. The employees are empowered as well as inspired to achieve their full ability (Martin et al., 2014). It is important to know that the success of any organization is dependent upon the leadership and the leaders at the helm. The other factor that I learnt was the important of change in an organization. Organizations cannot remain in situ. With the changes that are apparent in technology and the ever constant innovation, it is important to ensure that the organization is able to change and fit in with the modern world. Further, technology is making it easier for companies to operate on a global scale. As a result, companies should be willing to change their cultures to an approach that is more global so as to fit in the bigger market. Conclusion. When writing a journal, it is a reflection and a review of the experiences that we undergo on a day to day basis. Thus being a believer in journal keeping grows the habit of keeping a record of the occurrences that occur each and every day. Having a journal is what allowed me to compile these records and from them, I have learnt important skills to do with the business. The internship experience has taught me that there are still experiences that I must learn if I will be one of the best in my chosen professional field. References. Hao, M. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). How effective leadership can facilitate change in organizations through improvement and innovation. Global journal of managementandbusinessresearch.https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume15/1-How-Effective Leadership.pdf Addey, C. (2017). The assessment culture of international organizations:“From philosophical doubt to statistical certainty” through the appearance and growth of international large- scale assessments. Pupil assessment cultures in historical perspective. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Doyle, A. (2017). Communication Skills for workplace success. The Balance Careers. Martin, J., McCormack, B., Fitzsimons, D., & Spirig, R. (2014). The importance of inspiring a shared vision. International Practice Development Journal, 4(2). https://www.fons.org/library/journal/volume4-issue2/article4 . Running head: JOURNAL RESPONSE 2 JOURNAL RESPONSE 2 Journal Response Name Class Institution Date Journal writing is important in people’s lives. By writing a journal and reflecting upon different experiences, individuals can identify vital learning events or occasions that had taken place in their life. Individuals can also find the source of their inspiration that can define their today. People can also discover their authentic self and even get a better understanding of their thought process. The purpose of this essay is to reflect on the different experiences recorded in my journal. The essay will include my experiences, observations, and major concepts in reference to the experiences. Experiences Creating a professional journal is one of my greatest experiences. As I stated earlier, I have never created a professional journal. This has been my first experience and as far as I know, it has been interesting. Creating a professional journal has enabled me to reflect on my experiences and determine my authentic self. Creating my professional journal has enabled me to brainstorm ideas. It has also helped me to rethink my career goals. As stated earlier, I am a director of E-commerce at Sunway Nuts USA. My career goals include the following: enhance my networking skills, start my own company, and become an expert in my field. Conducting an interview is also my other greatest experience. I have never conducted an interview before. As indicated before, I interviewed with my supervisor, Frank Li. Frank is the Chief Operational Officer of Sunway Nuts USA. He is in charge of all operational areas in the organization. Interviewing my supervisor seems like an easy task, but it is not. During the interview, I was so nervous at the start as I was dealing with one of the most leading individuals in the company. Frank was, however, humble and ready to share a lot with me. I learned a lot of things during the interview which I think they will strengthen my career. One of the things I learned about is change and how management can ensure an effective and successful change in the company. I believe this experience will enable me to become the better me in the coming years of my career. Observations Based on the interview, I noticed that culture plays a vital role in organizations. Organizational culture establishes expectations for how individuals work and behave. It can define an entity’s external and internal identity, it can transform an organization into a team, it can impact employee wellbeing and performance, and can also influence decision-making. A culture can also influence change. While culture itself is resistant to change, it can be a significant enabler of change within an entity. It is, therefore, important for change managers to figure out the strengths of their organizational culture to initiate a successful change. I have also noticed that for a change to be effective and successful within an organization, top-level management team and CEO must respect and listen to employees’ views. Listening and respecting employee’s views, shows that the management value and care about its workers. It also helps the managers share what their goals and intentions are and even understand the employees’ expectations, hence, having everybody in agreement. When individuals within an organization concur, change becomes effective. This aspect will further my career. As a director, I need to respect and listen to my team members. I cant succeed without their inputs and efforts. Their opinions and views matter in all my endeavors. I have also noticed that for a change to be effective, change managers need to share the vision of the change before implementation. A vision offers meaning and orientation for change managers and their team (Martin et al., 2014). It also creates a sense of ownership. A sense of ownership can make a huge difference in employee motivation, engagement, and investment. Sharing the vision before implementation can also drive a culture and environment that allows workers to thrive. All these aspects are vital to change management. The other thing I have observed is that dictatorship of top-level management and CEO on what needs to be changed is dangerous. Controlling everything during change harm creativity among the team and prevent growth. Teamwork is important during change. As much as people always believe that dictatorship can generate consistent results, encourage short-term increases in productivity, and can lessen the effects of mistakes when top-level management and CEO allow employees to share opinions and ideas on what needs to be changed, employee motivation, engagement, and morale will improve. Key Concepts Effective leadership is important. Effective leaders usually bring together different groups of people and assist them to find a mutual purpose and vision. Effective leaders also ensure their employees work towards achieving the common goals. They empower and inspire individuals to recognize their fullest abilities and utilize their abilities to attain common goals (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015). They also promote a culture of collaboration and cohesion in the workplace. Effective leadership entails listening and respecting employee’s views, sharing a vision with employees, and allowing employees to participate in decision-making processes. Change is important in any organization. An organization cannot survive without change: Change is growth and it is unavoidable. New products and companies are entering the market every day, technology is advancing and changing, and consumer preferences are also changing. Companies, thus, need to adapt to change to avoid being disappointed. Change allows workers to learn new skills, practice their creativity, and explore different opportunities. Change also encourage innovation, enhances skills growth, and can promote efficiency in the workplace. In order for organizations to have an effective change, top-level management and the CEO must respect and listen to the employees’ opinions and views. They must also share the vision of change before the implementation. The top-level management should also estimate the strengths of its organizational culture to initiate a successful change. Conclusion Journal writing is so important. By writing a journal and reflecting on it, individuals can identify vital learning events or occasions that had taken place in their life, individuals can find the source of their inspiration, they can discover their authentic self, and even get a better understanding of their thought process. Writing a journal is one of my greatest experience. I have learned a lot throughout the process and I believe my career can nourish through the experience. Conducting an interview is also my other greatest experience. I learned a lot through the interview and I believe my career will build up through that experience. Based on the interview, I observed some aspects which I think are very important in my career. There are also some key concepts that I believe are vital to my overall professional practices. References Hao, M. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). How effective leadership can facilitate change in organizations through improvement and innovation. Global journal of management and business research. https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume15/1-How-Effective-Leadership.pdf Martin, J., McCormack, B., Fitzsimons, D., & Spirig, R. (2014). The importance of inspiring a shared vision. International Practice Development Journal, 4(2). https://www.fons.org/library/journal/volume4-issue2/article4 1 JOURNAL FOR INTERNSHIP COURSE 2 2 Journal for Internship Course 2 Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Course Professor’s Name Date Journal for Internship Course 2 Introduction People need to keep journals as it helps in reviewing and reflecting on the individual’s activities. Having a habit in journal keeping promotes the documentation of every step that takes place in an individual’s life be it career wife or any other. Through journal writing, records are well kept and they can be used in the future with different people for reference. Also, it makes one acknowledge their success and challenges throughout every development. The purpose of this paper is to describe the professional portfolio which includes the accomplishments and the skills recognized together with how they contribute to the portfolio. The paper will then review how the success and challenges of the internship experience are leading to growth. Success Working as a Director of E-Commerce in the food trading company, there are many things encountered that have contributed to the success and promotion of the portfolio. They are in relation to my career goal which is coming up with my own company, enhancing networking skills, and becoming an expert. Creating a professional journal is the first success achieved. This was seen from the first journal ever created which was of great importance and impact. The journal enabled the reflection in the experiences, observations, and key concepts. A professional journal enables the involved parties to track the progress made career-wise. Besides, one is able to reflect on the experiences and get the best out of them. To the portfolio, it keeps the personal investments safe and easy to be reviewed. Carrying out successful interviews with different professional and specialized people is the second success that is leading to career growth. Interviews were carried with the supervisor and the chief operating officer of the organization. Even though it was the first time conducting the interview, it comes to success as a lot of things which promote the career progress was learned. Through the interview, a lot was learned which included balancing between the wholesales and the e-commerce retail business. Besides, different ways of incorporating change to the organization were learned that helped in the career promotion due to the increased knowledge and skill that has been impacted by the professionals. Balancing between the e-commerce retail and the whole business is another success encountered that promoted growth. Achieving a balance between the two promoted the sales of the organization hence increased revenue. It was a good experience trying to balance the two cultural support and good leadership from other organizations. The experience of good organizational culture during the internship enhanced the well-being of the employees which increased the rate of decision making and performance. Abiding by the culture and changes being incorporate helped in ensuring there are success and effectiveness in the growth. Teamwork, good communication skills, and professionalism enhance the success and facilitated growth. Through these, knowledge is shared and skills and experience increased which promotes growth. Incorporating her hometown culture of the United State into the organization is another success achieved. Different countries have different cultures which vary from country to country. Being able to incorporate a new culture and people follows it results in great achievements as culture plays an important role in the development of the organization (Addey, 2017). Culture highly influences the behaviors of the employees; all-round culture promotes success. Implementation of the United States cultures increased the identity of the organization both internal and external and positively influence performance. More cultures at the organization increase the diversity hence success and growth. The other experience in the internship that I witnessed which led to growth is the clear vision. A clear vision gives an exact intention of the business and guides the employees through the accomplishment of the organization’s goals (Martin, et al., 2014). This is because it gives the purpose of the company and the things that they want to achieve at it inspires them through its achievement (Martin, et al., 2014). Besides, it gives the characteristics of the organization that will influence its growth. Through this, growth and the increase in the portfolio were experienced by knowing the ways of setting an appropriate vision for the organization. The last experience that promotes growth is effective communication among different people in the organization. In this experience, I was able to learn that it is important to listen to others as it gives a symbol of value and care. Besides, it promotes decision making and finding solutions as there is an understanding amongst different parties (Doyle, 2017). Also, good communication facilitates knowledge sharing and achieving strong productivity hence a strong working relationship that promotes growth. Challenges Apart from the successful experiences that promoted growth, there are also several challenges the lead to growth. The first challenge is time control. During the interview, it was hard to control time as there was an overflow from the set time of the interview. However, this led to growth and development as, during the internship experience, I was able to learn how to control the time for interviews and other things. Good time management enables an individual to accomplish a lot of things within a short time. This results in more of the free time that can be put to other uses for the accomplishment of other projects and activities. The other challenge experienced is the implementation of the change in an organization. It is challenging to implement change in any of the organizations as a little mistake will mess up everything. Even though it was a challenge, it led to growth as it was addressed and matched to the vision of the organization. Through its capabilities in creating the plans, setting the goals, coordination of work, and the projects and the decision, it highly promotes growth as activities are done in an organized manner. Conclusion From writing the journal, we have been able to identify the success and challenges of the internship that led to growth. Through it, it is clear that good communication promotes the growth and development of both an individual and the organization through knowledge sharing. Besides, helps in saving time and articulating change which are major challenges to the organization. Even though time management and visual articulation are challenging, they led to growth by aligning them to the proper consideration and undergoing in the organization. Also, writing the journal there was growth from the interviews carried out on the different people. Through the successful interviews, I was able to learn from the professional and grow my career and skills. It is important to interview people with experience as they can correct and recommend the right career path to be taken for further development. References Addey, C. (2017). The assessment culture of international organizations:“From philosophical doubt to statistical certainty” through the appearance and growth of international large-scale assessments. Pupil assessment cultures in historical perspective. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Doyle, A. (2017). Communication Skills for workplace success. The Balance Careers. Martin, J., McCormack, B., Fitzsimons, D., & Spirig, R. (2014). The importance of inspiring a shared vision. International Practice Development Journal, 4(2). https://www.fons.org/library/journal/volume4-issue2/article4 1 Journal for Internship Course 3 Student’s Name University Affiliation Course Name and Number Instructor’s Name Assignment Due Date Journal for Internship Course 3 Introduction Keeping a professional journal is a key component in professional work life. Journal is essential. Especially it plays a critical role in enabling an individual to review and reflect on the previous activities. The professional journal helps in keeping the records and clearly outlining the activities done on a day today. Furthermore, the professional journal helps maintain the sense of self and solidify an identity. Professional journals have information that is considered to be practical about the field of work. Writing the journal with gratitude is essential for self-recovery. The target of the work is to describe the professional portfolio. The discussions include what I learned during my professional internship, experiences, observations, key concepts, and the business course experience. The work also includes the discussions of challenges I encountered during the internship period. Besides, the item aims to develop my professional journal during the course to help with my career path in the future. What I have learned Having been working at Yamibuy, I learned teamwork skills. During my one and half years working there immediately after my graduation, it was a learning experience. As the Account Manager here, I learned many diverse skills in management. The management skills learned there were critical towards the effective running of the Marketplace department. Having been assigned the role of maintaining a good rapport relationship with the sellers, I learned how to build essential professional relationships. I also developed marketing skills to work in Yamibuy; this was essential for me in helping the sellers achieve better performance in terms of sales in our platform. Having experience in terms of professional skills during my work at Yamibuy, I got a new opportunity to work at Sunway Nuts USA Inc.. My reason for shifting to this company is to further my career, gain more professional experience, and establish a good ground for personal growth. Currently, working in Sunway Nuts Inc. has further made me learn a lot. Some of the things I have learned here include; leadership skills. I have grown as a leader working in Sunway Nuts USA Inc. The leadership skills have learned from my responsibility of leading a team on sales of our products. I have learned skills in e-commerce marketing skills. I have also learned working at Sunway Nuts Inc. Furthermore, and I have helped the team responsible for making the sales online of various platforms like Amazon, Taobao, Yamibuy, and eBay. I have also learned team management skills; this is thanks to the responsibility assigned to me at Sunway Nuts Inc. to manage the teams performance. My business management skills have also developed in the course of working at Sunway Nuts Inc. I have also learned to understand the two models of business operations are wholesale and retail. Being Director of E-commerce, I have also learned and developed my managerial skills since being in charge and responsible for the operations at this level in Sunway Nuts Inc. As a team, I have learned how to focus on achieving the goals. For instance, we are currently working on expanding our business to more websites like delivery apps. Basing on learning have experienced working in Yamibuy. I consider studying more to further my career in managing the company and team, focusing on E-commerce. Success Talking of my success, I am proud that I have accomplished settling a new account in the delivery app. The new account is now our new selling channel. The channel is expected to increase sales immensely. Accomplishing the settling of the account has also lead to an increase in activities in our company. We are projecting an increase in the number of employees upon the successful implantation of the sales. I consider my big success the authorization from the Chinese electronic brand known as Xiaomi Youpin as a distributor in the United States. Xiaomi Youpin is one of the biggest electronic brands in China, and distributing their products will enable our company to expand to dealings in other categories such as electronics and home goods. I am so excited about this opportunity and looking forward to starting working with them in starting the new business this year while working in Sunway Nuts Inc. I managed to interview Mr. Frank Li, the CEO and the founder of the company. From the interview, I was able to get a deeper understanding of the companys journey and how it has transformed to its current existence. Experiences Being assigned the responsibility of managing a team taking part in sales during my internship, I experience that it is important to keep team dynamics and effective communications (Hughes et al., 2018). For the successful running of a company, the employees need to work as a team. While working as a team, it is important to establish trust among the co-workers; this improves the working relationship and increases the general individuals performance and the companys performance (Hughes et al., 2018). I also experience that the promotion of a companys growth directly depends on the communications effectiveness among the people in the company and the customers. My responsibility for leading the team in charge of selling our products is that effective team coaching is essential in its performance (Maseko et al., 2019). I also experience practicing patients when I was waiting for the Xiaomi Youpin Companys confirmations to distribute their products. Observations and Key Concepts My observation while working in Sunway Nuts Inc. is that the E-commerce company is fully dependent on the teams efforts. For instance, the team responsible for the sales in the online platforms should make efforts. The efforts made by the sales teams are all dependant on the effective team couching (Maseko et al., 2019). The key concept is that when operating an e-commerce platform dealing with imported products giving customers the best experiences is essential. Maintaining business agility is essential for continuous operations. From the CEOs interview, I noted that keeping resilience is essential because the federal governments regulate export marketing, and there can be policy shifts at any given time. The successful operations of e-commerce depend on the high availability of the products when ordered by the online platforms. Challenges Apart from having successful learning and experiences, I also encounter some challenges in my internship. Some of the challenges include getting Mr. Frank Li to a sit down to conduct an interview was difficult, and this was because He always had tight, busy schedules. Eventually, I had to use my skills gained to convince him for an interview which was a successful one. At the start understanding team, dynamics was a challenge. Working with different people from diverse backgrounds was a challenge for me the first time. Therefore, since I was in charge of taking the, I challenged myself to embrace the team dynamics. Since I am a quiet person socializing with the team was a scary experience. However, after a while and continuous interactions, I developed socializing skills and quickly learned the companys operating procedures. Conclusion In summary, based on my responses from the discussion in this work, I can say that doing an internship is a great opportunity to learn. The process allows learning directly from the industry experts. Keeping the journal during the internship is important for keeping professional records for future references. The items in the internship journal are important and can help you keep track of the profession, and by this, you can be able to review or rethink your career goal. Alongside getting the records and writing the professional journal socializing with different people in the company is critical towards creating more networks. Socializing with company colleagues is also essential for gaining a quick understanding of the companys cultures and how you are doing an internship. References Hughes, M., Rigtering, J. C., Covin, J. G., Bouncken, R. B., & Kraus, S. (2018). Innovative behaviour, trust and perceived workplace performance. British Journal of Management, 29(4), 750-768. Maseko, B. M., van Wyk, R., & Odendaal, A. (2019). Team coaching in the workplace: Critical success factors for implementation. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 17, 11. 1 3 Journal For Internship Course 4 Student Instructor Course Title Date Introduction Thinking on paper is as such more than writing but the ability to collect and narrate in such a manner that truly depicts reflections. One of those qualities is that I have to be open and honest about almost every detail that occurs in my ordinary life. This requires a lot of effort to keep up in this fast paced world and at times moment might seem like a blur when being recalled due to their brief and fleeting experiences. Being honest about every interaction even those that are unpleasant is what it takes to be able to put it down correctly. On top of being honest, it requires hawk eyed observation in order to be able to recall and relate to the experiences and make them lively in the writing. At the end of the day, the question that still remains to be answered is what is the meaning of all this effort? It means that thoughts should not be left to go and should be noted down for future reference and even to get the gist of what is happening. It means that each and every though that crosses your mind is part and parcel of the person and there should be an effort to put it down for the aforesaid reasons and even more. From the beginning of the course, my initial desire was to learn and share various skills in marketing with my classmates during the course to provide an opportunity to explore various career opportunities while observing several inspirations of business management and strategies from my workplace (Kvint, 2009). I began as an amateur in the field of professional journaling growing through my experiences and observation as well as successes in implementing what I had learnt. Starting off from the role of Account Manager for Marketplace department at Yamibuy, with the objectives of maintaining relationships with the sellers and improving sales performance on their platform, it has been a fundamental step to my current position of Director of E-commerce for Sunway Nuts USA, Inc. I have seen had various opportunities for success as well as challenges in equal measure in my role. Experienced Successes From the first job I undertook, I was able to learn the value and importance of teamwork. During my working duration of one and a half years, I was able to get hand on lessons on various aspects of management. They proved to be quite crucial an important for my advancement in the marketing field. This allowed me to accomplish the creation of a new delivery application which is fundamental for the growth of sales. It increased the sales margin of the company in various ways for the risk I had taken. The settling of this account had the ripple effect of increasing activities in the company with a prediction projection of increased workforce. Far from that, I also consider the authorization from one of the largest Chinese electronics brands to be their distributor in the United States huge success on my part. Being able to partner with one of the largest brands in China creates a new business niche for our company in electronics and home equipment. This opportunity is fundamental and I am extremely looking forward for the beginning of working with them. To some, it might be a privilege, but I consider being able to interview Mr. Frank Li, the CEO and the founder of the company a major step in further success. The opportunity provided me an insight on how to deeply understand the inner workings of a company and how it is transformed into a successful business. Challenges Despite the various learning experiences and successes, there were also a number of challenges I encountered during my internship. One of the first challenges experienced was working with a diverse teams from various backgrounds and thought processes. This is because in working with a team it is crucial to consider and validate the various contributions and efforts in the workplace and ensure there is harmonious relationships with fellow co-workers. It was a challenge in that this was the first experience I had received with such a team and it required a lot of dedication (Guff & Loewy, 2014). Working with various individuals also brought the challenge of management. This is because as a first time experience, I was generally used to the theoretical aspects of management and this proved to be a very trying experience. Through continuous interaction and discussions, I came to grow and understand the unique traits and shortfalls of the whole team. To make it even scarier, is the way in which my personality is inclined towards introversion which challenged me even further to go out of my comfort zone. Time management was also a huge challenge in my growth during the internship. It challenged me from time to time from the interview to how to set schedules for other activities. However, this lead to the development of more time consciousness during my internship and I grew to learn how to balance and utilize time management. Proper time management allows for more focused efforts on completing tasks in a short while. Implementing changes in an organization also proved to be another challenging task. This is because of the sensitive nature of a company and any little mistake could provide ripple errors in various tasks. Despite this, it provided an opportunity to address and match the organizations vision. Goal setting, plan creation, coordination and decision making were the outcome lesson from this challenge as it promoted engaging activities in an organized manner. Portfolio Description During the course of my internship, my portfolio managed to grow and increase in ways that I had not envisioned. It allowed me the chance to see the advantage of internship and the routine in which it has in overall improved my perspective and vision in terms of skill acquisition, accomplishments and acknowledgement which will greatly contribute to my experience and professional portfolio. Through the experience, I was able to learn and understand my ability and talents. One of the talents observed and gained is the ability to coordinate and manage various activities. I came to observe this from the way I was able to coordinate and handle a team of diverse individuals despite beginning as a novice. It played a pivotal role in ensuring that my team of online retailers grew its customers and activities in during the period that I was able to work with them. From the experience, I was also able to gather my talent for time management and how to ensure activities engaged in are productive rather than being busy. This allowed for more activities to be completed and achieved as time control became a crucial aspect in the management of my team. This will contribute to my portfolio in the category of management as I was able to achieve and ensure crucial aspects of being a leader were undertaken. It shows the leadership skill I have obtained and increased as well When it comes to attitudes, being proactive and curious are some of the aspects that reflect in my portfolio. In that, despite being less qualified in certain skill areas and activities, I was able to learn quickly and turn around these shortfalls and ensure there was growth in the company in my division and also as a whole. It allowed me to learn how to improve myself and even become a more active leader despite the challenges faced with. Not to mention the efforts I put in place to ensure I was able to work with the team and provide an engaging working environment for myself and co-workers. My roles were defined and simply put forward. I was in charge of increase online traffic as well as search for new products for sale from China. This were basically having the responsibility of increasing the company’s brand and capabilities which I managed to do so by creating of a new sales application and the partnership with one of the largest electronics brand manufacturer from China. By indicating this alone, it shows the achievements I made in my position and how it contributes to my portfolio in that I was effective in completion of my tasks. These contribute to my portfolio by showcasing my capabilities and indicating the way I was able to achieve them. It goes in line with my goals where I began with the vision and hope of learning various experiences from my workmates and even classmates. I was able to achieve this through networking and interaction with my boss who is the CEO of the company. This contributes directly to my portfolio as I was able to achieve my task and obligation within the duration of the start of the course to the current. I also had the objective of learning more business strategies as is determinable through the way I was able to increase company activities by creation of an application. It not only allowed an increase in sales but also an increase to the company’s ability to employ more workforce creating even more jobs. These contributions to my portfolio only indicate of the various tasks completed as had earlier been stated in my journals. Conclusion In a short bit, I find that undertaking an internship only leads to creation of a good opportunity to learn. The value of understanding this is it allows for monitoring the kind of thoughts that are always crossing the mind of an individual. It says a lot about the manner in which one is able to understand what they interact and get information about. This is important in instances like decision making and bargaining for value when it comes to various relations and transactions. REFERENCES Guffey M., and Loewy D. (2014). Essentials of Business Communication. Cengage Learning Print. Boston, MA. Kvint V. (2009). The Global Emerging Market: Strategic Management and Economics. New York, London: Routledge. Week 1 Question: · Provide a short biography to the class as an introduction helping to create a community environment. Also, you can respond to the questions shown in the Introduction as an example. The introduction is found in the Internship Course Resources in Supplementary Material in this GAP course.  · Be sure to add what country you are from along with your educational background and previous work experience.  · Explain your internship job description. · Identify the College of Business course that you are currently enrolled in, or if there is no business course that you are taking this session.  Answer: I am from Osaka, Japan. My mom is Chinese, and my dad is Japanese, so I grew up in the multi-cultural family. I am participating in the MBA program at Westcliff University with a concentration in Business Statistics and Data Analysis. This is my second from the last semester at Westcliff University, and I am currently enrolled in BUS 606 Advanced Statistical Concepts and Business Analytics.         I came to the United States from my junior year of high school. I studied in a boarding school in Massachusetts call Wilbraham and Monson Academy. After I graduated from high school in 2014, I spent my Freshman year of college in Northeastern University in Boston. I transferred to the Pepperdine University from Sophomore year since I wanted to change the environment and move to a place with better weather. I graduated from Pepperdine University in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in international business.           I have been worked in the e-commerce field since I graduated. My first job after graduation was as an Account Manager for Marketplace Department at a biggest Asian E-commerce company call “Yamibuy”. After one and a half years, I saw better opportunities and chances for career growth, so I switched my job to my current company “Sunway Nuts USA, Inc. with the position of Director of E-commerce. Our company is the startup food distribution company. We are the importer and distributor of the food from Asia. We have various selling channels includes e-commerce platforms and traditional retail/grocery stores. The department that I am working for is mainly responsible for online retail and the whole business. We are managing our product sales on various online platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and Yamibuy as third-party sellers and vendors. My main job responsibility is team management, business development, and sales performance. Our biggest goal this year is to expand our business to a mainstream supermarkets such as Costco and Walmart. Week 3 Question: · Outline and describe in the discussion those components that you will be working on in this session to build or improve your professional portfolio and post to the discussion board.   For Weeks 3 through 7, keep notes during your internship in your professional journal which each student is creating and reporting on in the CLA 1 in Week 8.  Answer:   A professional portfolio is a good way to keep a record of the career experiences, accomplishments, projects that had been done, and feedback and advice from co-workers and supervisors.            The benefit of keeping a professional portfolio is not limited to showing a career background and learn from the experience for better growth and improvement. Here are some points that I would like to include in my professional portfolio: 1. Educational Background including degree type, major, and some class experience. 2. Work experience including the company and position that I worked for, and some major projects that I involved in. 3. Some accomplishments and highlights for my career experience. 4. My skills and certification list. 5. Letter of recommendation from my supervisor or connections. 6. Things that I learned through my career experiences. 7. Performance review  Week 5 Question: · You will upload the total interview in the Week 5 assignment file in GAP for the professor. · In the Week 5 discussion forum you will describe the main points of the interview content and experience. · Conduct the interview. Share with the class a description about the interview content in the Week 5 discussion (you can upload a file attachment for the professor and place a description in the discussion and converse with your classmates about the interview).  · What are some of the major observations you made in regard to your interview; were you satisfied with the information gained during the interview?  · What are some of your own personal strengths and weaknesses related to the interview process?  Be sure to make entries in your journal about the Interview.  Answer: I conducted an interview with the CEO of our company, Frank Li. The interview was done in person, and I used different types of question such as open-ended and Likert scale to conduct the interview.           The whole interview process and flow were very smooth. The major observation I made in regards to my interview was to learn the history and development plan of the company, management for the startup company, and major job duties as the position of CEO. I am very satisfied with the information that I gathered from Frank because I learned a lot of business knowledge and our companys future development plan. The interview also helped me to learn how to manage a startup company.           My personal strength related to the interview is that I am good at expanding the points and topics. On the other hand, my personal weakness is time management for the interview. Week 6 Question: Discussion Information:   View the video “The Difference between Creativity and Innovation” by Lynda.com (3:20 mins). https://youtu.be/h7kKiL4I0DQ Discussion Question - CLO 1, CLO 2, CLO 3  · How are creativity and innovation defined? · How are people defined in those roles? · What part of a company should have what type employee, creative or innovative? · From the video give a tip for each, the creative and the innovative type of employee? Be sure to make entries in your journal each week about your experiences. Answer: How are creativity and innovation defined? Creativity - Produce new and unique ideas Innovation - Try to change ideas to implementations How are people defined in those roles?           Creative people have the strengths in pitching ideas, upset the status quo, challenge the new thing, and willing to take the risks. On the other hand, Innovative people have the strengths in implement ideas, understand the risks, avoid problems, and showing respect to their customers.   What part of a company should have what type employee, creative or innovative?           Both creative and innovative employees are needed for every department of the company because each department needs employees who think about ideas, as well as employees who could implement the ideas. Harmonious collaboration between these two types of people could most effectively lead to new innovations.  From the video give a tip for each, the creative and the innovative type of employee?           The video explained how both types of people are complementary to each other, but it is common to see the communication gaps between these two. Tips for creative people: · Should learn the best timing to share the ideas. Do not share the ideas with everyone without detailed research and supports. · Need to learn the best way to share the ideas, and find the correct person to share the initial ideas for further support. · Have to measure if the new idea is suitable for the company/project goals or not. Tips for Innovative People:  · Do not deny the ideas from creative people before trying, and try to give some advice if anything needs to be changed or fixed.  · Welcome and appreciate the new ideas.  Reference  LinkedIn Learning. (2014, December 19). The difference between creativity and innovation I leadership I lynda.com [Video File]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7kKiL4I0DQ  Week 7 Question: Discussion information: View the video “How to be an awesome intern” by Cass Thompson (7:58 min) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFA_3nXhfm8 Discussion Question - CLO 1, CLO 2, CLO 3, CLO 5  · Describe what you think of one of the messages contained in the video? · Give two recommendations that you will use to make your internship successful based on the video advice? · Provide one change you will make to improve your work? Be sure to make entries in your journal each week about your experiences. Answer: · Describe what you think of one of the messages contained in the video?           I think the most important message that I got from the video is ask for extra work. Being an intern, it is important to show an attitude and passion to the work. Asking for the extra work cannot only show a positive attitude but also can show that you are an effective person who could finish the tasks earlier than the expectation. At the same time, we are able to get to know more people in the company and leave a great impression by asking for extra work. · Give two recommendations that you will use to make your internship successful based on the video advice?           The first recommendation that I will use to make my internship successful is definitely the advice that I already mentioned in question 1 ask for extra work.  I totally agree that asking for extra work could help to show a positive working attitude to the co-workers, and that could also make a good chance to get to know more people and different tasks for each department.            Second, I will follow the advice, asking questions. The action of asking the questions could show others that you are actually thinking, and willing to find the solutions or learn more by asking the questions, which could also show that you are a motivated and responsible person.  ·  Provide one change you will make to improve your work?            One change that I will make to improve my work is to dress well. I think my working outfits are too casual now, and I think dressing up professionally could help me to increase my confidence, and provide a great impression to my supervisor and my client as well.  Reference Cass Thompson Career Advice (2018, April 6). How to be an awesome intern [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFA_3nXhfm8 Week 10 Question: Discussion Information : Select a MBA Program Learning Objective (PLO) from the University Policy syllabus in the GAP Course or through the Westcliff University Catalog online. If you have selected a MBA PLO in a previous internship course, you must select a different PLO for this discussion.  Discussion Question – CLO 1, CLO 3  · From the MBA program learning objectives provided in the University Policies or the Westcliff University Catalog website, select an objective that relates to your professional future.  · How does this PLO apply to your current internship job? Give an example.  · Are there areas in your internship job where there could be improvement concerning this PLO topic or is it being handled well; what are your recommendations? · In your response, provide at least one (1) peer reviewed source to support your ideas on this subject.  Answer： PLO: Develop mastery of functional components of business—economics, marketing, accounting, finance, law, organizational behavior, and leadership Attending the MBA program helped me to develop mastery of functional components of the business. As a Director of E-commerce in the trading company, it is important for me to have strong leadership skills to lead the team, learning organizational behavior to better manage the team, and have the knowledge of marketing, accounting, and finance to develop the business and achieve the next level goal for the company. As a leader of the team, the Organizational Behavior class inspired me on how to effectively manage the team by giving them timely feedback, listen to the needs of subordinates, and give rewards to the team for their effort and performance. The leadership class inspired me to be a transactional leader who could lead the team by being the role model. According to Bass (1999), A transactional leader motivates followers by identifying rewards or consequences in return for behavior consistent with individual self-interest. I think my internship experience is very good in these areas, and I learned a lot through my internship. Reference Bass, B.M. ( 1999 ), Two decades of research and development in transformational leadership , European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology , Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 9 - 32 . Week 13 Question: Discussion Information: This week you are describing the type of performance review information that you found that would be relevant and helpful to your progress.   Discussion Question – CLO 1, CLO 3, CLO 4, CLO 5  · What recommendations do you have for yourself to be more effective and productive in the workplace based on your performance this session?  · What type of performance review would you find helpful to assess your progress? · What would you communicate to your supervisor during your performance review? · What information in your performance review could you use in your Professional Portfolio?  Answer： · What recommendations do you have for yourself to be more effective and productive in the workplace based on your performance this session? Since I am having too many ongoing projects this session, I will recommend myself use project management software such as Teambition to effectively manage my ongoing projects, so both me and my team can track the process and better do the time management. Additionally, I will also start to write down the to-do list every day in the morning to better prioritize the works. I believe using the tool such as project management and to-do list could help to be more effective and productive. ● What type of performance review would you find helpful to assess your progress? I find the detailed and honest performance review from my supervisor is very helpful, because I would like to know what I did well, and where I could be improved for better performance. I also find the peer-reviewed from my teammate very helpful, because they are the people who work the most closely with me, so I am very happy to hear the feedback from them for our better team works. ● What would you communicate to your supervisor during your performance review? I will ask for some advice from my supervisors during my performance review because it is always good to listen to others advice and feedback, especially from the person who is more experienced. ● What information in your performance review could you use in your Professional Portfolio? I would use my skill development, strengths, and project experience from my performance review to my Professional Portfolio. Of course, I will also use the advice and feedback from my supervisor to always remind myself in the future. Week 14 Question: Discussion Information : Do it yourself assignment - Locate a real-world business issue or solution video located in Ted Talk Videos (https://www.ted.com/talks). Select a different Ted Talk if you have responded to this question in a previous internship course.  Discussion Question - CLO 1, CLO 3 · Select a TED Talk video relevant to the business course you are currently enrolled in and/or your internship assignment.  · Describe what information you agree with and the parts you liked or disliked in the video content. · Summarize it for the weekly discussion and include the URL reference.  Answer：      The TED Talk I chose is called Dare to disagree by Margret Heffernan. It talks about performance management and conflict management.           Performance management is an important element for every company, especially for large corporations. Tools such as corporate management programs could better support the management team to review and evaluate employees’ work performance. Performance management could help create an efficient work environment where the employee’ could show their productive and high-quality performance, which could lead to achievement. Management level and employees would be able to communicate the goals, purposes, challenges, and expectations by implementing a formal performance management tool. As a result, performance management can be roughly defined as viewing employees as parts of a larger whole.           Margret Heffernan talks about constructive conflicts in her Ted Talk. She contends that instead of avoiding confrontations, businesses could improve their performance by establishing channels that make it easier to communicate disagreements. Furthermore, collaborative thinking should be fostered as a means of finding solutions to business problems. Her call to collaborate to improve outcomes was one of my favorite parts of the video. It is a component that is missing from many business models as employees focus more on competition to be perceived as more efficient and productive.           However, her argument that we should confront the status quo is still debatable. How would we challenge a system that has been tried and tested by others? Furthermore, deviating from the normal may result in a loss of jobs in this current competitive world which has no benefit in that at all. While we may want to raise conflict at work, our anxieties are also reasonable as we want to protect a position. References Heffernan, M. (2016). Dare to disagree. TED Talks. Retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_dare_to_disagree Interviewer: Miku Anraku Interviewee: Frank Li Interview Date: September 28th 1. When did you start to contact with trading industry and figured out that you are interested in this area? I started to contact with the trading industry when I was a Junior of the college. I got the chance to contact with this company because of our CEO Gang Bao. He is a very successful businessman and I met him during the family dinner. He is one of the friends of my family. When we had a conversation during the dinner, we talked about my future career plan and my thoughts on the business. He found my idea of the food trading was very interesting, so he invited me to startup the business with him for the food trading. I stared to have the interest on the food distribution because of my girlfriend. She was working in the biggest Asian e-commerce company, and she gave me the inspiration of our business. 2. What is your opinion about the international business, and what is the biggest challenge for it? As a global citizen, I think international business is very interesting, I am proud of myself by brining my hometown culture to the United States. The biggest challenge for the international business is the importing process, especially for the consuming products. I faced a lot of difficulty at the beginning because of the unfamiliarity for the FDA and USDA regulations. 3. How do you balance the wholesale business and e-commerce retail business? It is challenging to maintain both wholesale and retail business, because wholesale market could heavily impact the sales for online e-commerce retail business due to the similarity of the products. However, I found the way to balance these two parts of the business by differentiating the selling products. 4. Please tell me about your future plan you developed for the company. My future plan for the company is to enter the mainstream market such as Costco, Walmart and Amazon, etc. I will start to plan for our own food brand by localizing the products and packages. 5. On a 1-10 point scale, please rate your ability as the leader of the company. I think I will give myself 9 points as the leader of the company, because I think I have a strong ability to motivate the employees and share the vision with them to accomplish our goals. How do you consider the trade war between China and U.S? Is that a challenge or risk for your company? Back to 2020, the Trump Administration announce the new import rules which add punitive tariff 25\% on all products from China. I really had struggle moment for my business at that time, because my business starts the idea that importing the Chinese dried foods into U.S market. The first reason was the China really have long historic culture on foods which I really familiar with it. The second reason was the Chines foods have advanced price competing foods’ price on almost developed countries. However, the punitive tariff reduces the advantage on price. During that time, I started to consider the product of market positioning. I redefine the customer base, start mid-high-end customer, the age considering young and middle ages’ people. They more attention to product’s quality and package design. Comparing the quality and package design, price not priority to consider. I switch the risk to become the chance. The product in market is keeping growing and attractive. As international business, how you balance the China team and U.S team? Due to culture and education difference, they have different thought and ability. I will keep my China team focus on executive ability, and let U.S team focus on creative ability. They all play an important role in our company.To be specific One side focus